“We’ll receive them the day after their arrival. You can follow via crystal link, but I would advise against joining in person, considering your rather unusual avatar choice.”
My looks are indeed an added problem, one I hadn’t foreseen when being reborn as Elizabeth. One I only became aware yesterday, when learning about the Scourge embassy. For the time being the enemy was unaware of the new race, but me coming face to face with the envoy would be a dead giveaway. There was no way I could pass as a Haillar, and no other Dominion race looked anywhere close to the humans.
“You’re right, I should stay away from the talks and watch from afar.”
“The same goes for any human. A group of them arrived on Tao Bellona yesterday with a Diessa ship. I would expect your household is already informed.”
My heart skips a beat. I stayed on Council grounds after the Conclave, catching up with various representatives after my extended stay on Aldeea. In a sense reintroducing myself, or rather introducing Elizabeth to the main actors on Dominion’s political scene.
The humans are here, and for some odd reason my heart fills with joy. Oh, on Aldeea I befriended Christine and Peter, the biologists and even Tim Morris, the big guard. But still, I somehow feel I’m reunited with lifelong friends, and not with people I’ve only met a few ten-days ago. There is no logical reason for this, unless it somehow relates to my new avatar being human. Yet it never happened before, the half dozen lives I chose to incarnate as an alien.
“I’ll invite all humans to our enclave. They should be safe, for as long as I’m there no Scourge will set foot on Sen’Dorien ground.”
✽✽✽
I’m finally free of Rovalda’s contraption, dressed in a light, comfortable robe. My face is clean of paint and my hair is falling free, a cascade of golden curls with no hidden combs, clips and pins. I’m back being myself, being Ashar rather than a fashion construct designed both to impress and at the same time to conceal my avatar’s strangeness.
“Do we know whom to expect?”
“The Diplomatic Corps message was very brief, mentioning seven humans who arrived yesterday. I didn’t ask for any details, being unaware this news had any particular bearing. I should have known better, considering your …”. Chalissa ends her response with a vague gesture indicating my otherness. My Seneschal is still uncomfortable around me, still longing for Ellandra. I can’t blame her, yet I only hope that over time she’ll come to befriend Elizabeth and love her the same as she loved my past avatar.
“We’ll lodge them in the Silver Wing, next to the serrun terraces.” The Silver Wing is one of the oldest and most traditional parts of our compound, one that I found similar with the pictures of Earth shared with me by Christine, back on Aldeea. Lately I felt a strange familiarity with those images, as if they somehow relate to my own past. Well, my past holds so many memories that it’s increasingly difficult to discern reality and make-believe.
“Excellent choice! Close by, yet out of the way.” Reith chimes in, entering the lounge. “Welcome back sister, and glad to see you in a good mood, especially after the Conclave ordeal. Your suffering aside though, your avatar looked quite impressive.”
“Well, dear sister, not all of us can attend the Conclave as cats and express our boredom by diligently licking a front paw.”
Reith stares at me surprised, and I stare back in shock, horrified. Where did this come from? My sister did attend past Conclaves as a kalan, though always straight-faced and sober. Yet I somehow had this image of a small feline calmly grooming herself in the middle of the most official event. It’s not the first time I have strange flashbacks and the urge to utter the most insane remarks. This happened several times on Dorien, soon after my rebirth, yet I was under the impression I was over it. Obviously not. Something must be odd with my avatar, and this is filling me with dread. Is this the beginning of the descent into madness?
My sister feels my anxiety and understands it too well. She fears the same thing I do, that one day the use of eka would shatter our minds and we’ll lose control of our destructive powers.
“Fear not, my sister! Our bond is perfectly balanced, no sign of stress, no pull toward Chaos. Whatever happens to you is not related to our eka, it’s between you and your avatar.”
This is a relief, but only a small one. There is something wrong with my mind, no doubt about it. I wonder if racial memories exist and if human physiology is interfering somehow with my Haillar personality. But I’m not in truth human stock, not really, as my avatar is just a construct of eka. Or who knows, maybe a figment of Liz’s imagination, and in this case is any part of Liz still with me? If so, are humans indeed able to interact with eka, something I hoped and dreaded at the same time since the very moment we met in Alon Kleist’s gardens?
“One of the Spirit Masters may be able to help you,” said Reith interrupting my musings. “Somehow I doubt you would choose to confess to Faun Sen’Diessa herself.”
Most definitely not! The Spirit Queen was crossed enough with me for being reborn as an alien and rushing to invite Endeavour’s crew under my shield, thus forcing Council’s hand in this matter. I can only imagine how she’ll react learning of my control issues. Learning I may share my spirit with a human, even if only a tiny part of it.
CHAPTER 10 (PETER)
The Sen’Dorien invitation came the morning after our arrival on Tao Bellona and the fruitful discussion with Maurien Sen’Diessa.
Legate Faurist brought us the missive, a silvery scroll made up of some sort of metallic alloy etched with colourful pictograms reminding me of Egyptian hieroglyphs. The symbols were alien, yet the look and feel were similar to Ellandra’s initial invitation, and I realised that vellum message received on Aldeea was the simplified version of this royal summoning. Now I was holding in my hands the genuine article, and I couldn’t help comparing it with the crafted letter we admired so much. In the Aldeean version the pictograms were more explicit, tailored to our limited common ground, yet some parts were surprisingly similar. Even the rainbow symbol was identical, placed almost in the same spot at the end of the document.
“The House Sen’Dorien renews their invitation”, announced Faurist officially. “Strictly speaking an unnecessary gesture, as their wardenship was already recorded in the Archives of Lore the first time around, on Aldeea. In an additional note, the Dorien Queens also indicated most politely their wish to meet with your entire group at their enclave, by mid-afternoon.”
After being welcomed by an unknown Council queen, we were now invited in very polite but categoric terms to meet the rulers of the Sen’Haillar house sponsoring our trip. I wondered if it was only a coincidence.
“That’s wonderful news, Legate. Now our presence here is endorsed not only by Ellandra, but also by the current Queens.”
Christine was stating the obvious, fishing for any additional scrap of information. The answer did not disappoint, yet the insight was less than enlightening.
“You mean the current Avatars. Your presence here was already sanctioned on Aldeea by Ashar, the Chaos Queen.”
More of the Haillar religious mumbo-jumbo surrounding their fabled queens. It was intriguing how people otherwise reasonable and down to the earth could revert to religion and myth as soon as the discussion touched on their leaders.
“At least we can be sure of a reasonably warm welcome. The new queen wouldn’t throw us into the dungeons after publicly renewing Ellandra’s invitation.”
Somehow Martens’ optimism was less than reassuring. Koslowski voiced what all of us were thinking.
“It’s not about us, it’s all about Earth. We were wrong, hoping our presence here will be ignored. For some reason humanity’s first contact is high on the Haillar rulers’ agenda, higher than a new starfaring race would normally warrant. The question is why.”
“As with Endeavour’s role in the Aldeean siege, I fear our presence here is somehow significant in the grand scheme of things, but in a way none of us could currently fath
om”.
Christine’s prophetic words uttered there, on the Diplomatic Bureau veranda, would continue to haunt me for hours to come.
***
We stepped through the Sen’Dorien gate later that day, arriving in an enormous hall bathed in the afternoon sunlight.
The first impression was one of … freedom, of everlasting space. It wasn’t only the size of the place, though it was an enormous room. An entire wall, hundreds of feet in length and at least twenty feet tall, was made of a single crystal sheet, affixed on invisible supports. It was a sunny day outside, as every day on Tao Bellona so far. The vista was superb, a stairway of garden terraces descending into the calm sea. Or lake, apparently, according to our hosts.
Sunlight was flooding the room, but somehow progressively toned down to a comforting glow, as opposed to a fierce blaze. It was probably a feature built into the crystal window, though I could see no tint accounting for this.
The room itself was elegant, but not overly ornate. I’ve visited a few royal palaces on Earth, Windsor and Versailles amongst them, and the hall reminded me of their grand ballrooms, only an order of magnitude bigger, and conveying a feeling of otherness, of timeless beauty. It was quite a far cry from the stark medieval simplicity of the Aldeean reception hall or the utilitarian aspect of the Diplomatic Bureau’s lobby.
As if on cue with my last thought, Legate Faurist broke the silence:
“You are in the Sen’Dorien complex, the Chaos and Order home on Tao Bellona. The queens are rather casual, but I urge you to remember my earlier instructions and follow the protocol.”
In direct contrast with the statement, a very proper elderly Haillar was approaching us from the far end of the room. It reminded me of the dignity of a British butler, the last in a line of countless privileged retainers serving highborn nobility. I hated to imagine what formally meeting a Haillar queen may be. From all I’ve seen, the Ellandra we met on Aldeea had been one of a kind, quite atypical for the Sen’Haillar aristocracy. Or she was playing a role, though for the life of me I couldn’t imagine what that role might be.
“Greetings Dorien guests. I am Eneid Sen’Dorien, Deputy Seneschal of our House. Please follow me, I will lead you to the queens.”
Our group, including Faurist, fell in step behind the butler, or deputy seneschal as his title may be.
“Ellandra’s heir seems to be quite a different sort of queen”, whispered Hank Mertens. We’ve fallen back slightly, leaving a bit of a distance between Eneid and us.
“The Queen of Chaos is not great on pomp, no matter the Avatar,” responding the Legate, confusing Hank’s statement with a question. He started to say something else, then seemed to reconsider and changed the topic. “The Sen’Dorien complex covers the entire Yallid island, the largest island on lake Peronal.”
“How old is this place?”, asked Christine.
“As old as the Dominion, though it wasn’t always like this. It started as a summer house and only later became queens’ official residence on Tao Bellona. As the Dominion grew so did the Dorien complex. Now it covers the entire island with little room to expand should the need arise.”
Watching row after row of terraced gardens descending into the sea, I couldn’t help noting that Haillar’s idea of space management looked slightly different compared to the human one. As did their notion of a relatively ‘modest’ queen. Once again, I couldn’t reconcile this image with the Ellandra we met and dined with on Aldeea, Aleen’s curious friend. I wondered what the coming audience will bring us. Would we encounter the Mad Hatter again, or the haughty Queen of Hearts?
We exit the reception hall and continue along wide corridors, coming across passing Haillar from time to time. They moved with grace but purpose, never giving us more than a passing glance. As if they came across tall and sturdy humans all the time.
I looked around at each of my friends and crewmates. Christine was apprehensive as if she was heading to the encounter of her life. Charles looked superior, for him meeting an alien monarch was a natural right. Commander Koslowski was concerned. I didn’t envy his role, his never-ending balancing act between intelligence gathering and not appearing to be in any way an envoy of Earth. Dr Fiorelli was quietly surveying every detail, as dutifully as documenting an astronomic phenomenon. Hank looked nonchalant, the typical American tourist visiting a royal residence in Europe. I’m sure it was a pose, and he felt as nervous as the rest of us. Except maybe for Tim Morris, whose instinct didn’t seem to sense any immediate danger and whose pragmatic mind refused to ponder on things entirely out of our control.
We came across an ordinary-looking yet elegant door. Eneid opened it and announced us:
“The human guests, my Queen.”
Christine was the first to step in. I followed suit in a room of normal proportions, rather cosy compared with the grandeur of the corridor outside. A raven haired Haillar woman was sitting on a couch, half-turned towards us.
At first, I felt a bit let down. I hoped against hope that the heir queen will be something like Ellandra, a younger sister version perhaps. The new queen wasn’t anything like that. She was indeed small and delicate looking, with soft features and a deceptively innocent poise. But similarities didn’t go further than that. While Ellandra’s defining theme was purple, her heir was all black and white. Her eyes were completely black, same obsidian black as the hair. The new queen’s face looked vaguely East Asian, with slightly slanted eyes shadowed by long eyelashes.
But the big difference compared to Ellandra was in her dress and stance. Our little queen dressed casually, wearing breeches and tunics befitting more a bodyguard than a monarch. This woman, her heir, was wrapped in an elegant black-and-white robe akin to Chinese ceremonial dresses though without any excessive ornaments. While Ellandra looked casual and very young, there was nothing casual about the new Queen of Chaos. Her features were young indeed, but her eyes betrayed age and experience the way our friend’s face never did. Or maybe it was all in my head, and the real Ellandra had the same hard edge but I never noticed it, not even in the final moments when it was clear our initial impressions were utterly wrong.
“Your majesty, we are honoured to be received here as your guests”, started Commander Koslowsky, the nominal leader of our group. “We had the privilege to meet with your previous … Avatar on Aldeea. She was the first to welcome us in the Dominion, on behalf of your House.”
This was it. The cat was now out of the bag. I might have phrased it differently, nevertheless Koslowsky did a good job of sounding respectful but not overwhelmed by the alien queen’s presence.
“On behalf of our house, I welcome you as well, dear guests. I am Astrid’ Reith Sen’ Dorien, the Queen of Order. My Chaos sister will be with us in a moment.”
I closed my eyes in exasperation and I opened them just in time to see a stunning young woman entering the terrace door. An impossibly stunning human girl.
“What?” blurted Charles.
“Charles my dear, you have the tendency to exclaim at the most inappropriate times,” said the newcomer.
I was speechless, which was still better than Charles’ blunder. Meeting an unknown human at the heart of the Haillar Dominion was an impossibility. We were the first contact team, and no other Earth ship could have come this far in the four months since we left the Sol system. Furthermore, we knew well all the other astronauts in the Space Program, having trained together many times. And for sure, this gorgeous woman was not one of them. Her age was also wrong, as she was in her early twenties, not even old enough to be in the Space Program. To add to the absurd of the situation, she seemed to be acquainted with Charles. More than acquainted, familiar enough to … tease him?
“Who are you?” continued the biologist.
“Elizabeth Ashar, the Chaos Queen.”
For the moment I didn’t comprehend, then I was utterly horrified. What kind of crazy joke was this? Liz was dead, and this woman wasn’t Liz. Ellandra Ashar was dead too. How could the new Chaos
queen claim to be Elizabeth? How did she know Charles?
Christine took a step forward and asked tensely:
“Are you the new Chaos Queen?”
“I am Elizabeth Ashar Sen’Dorien, the Queen of Chaos. Your friend.”
“How can it be? Ellandra was our friend.”
“Ellandra perished with the Endeavour. I returned as a new Avatar choosing the name Elizabeth in Liz Hamilton’s honour.”
“Let me get this straight,” asked Charles. “Did you die on Aldeea and later on were reborn as a human, taking the name Elizabeth to honour Liz Hamilton’s death?”
“To honour her life, first and foremost.”
“Are you the same person, the same entity we met on Aldeea?”, asked Christine intently.
“Yes Christine, I’m the same person. I’m the one with whom you spent hours talking about Earth and Aldeea. The person you dined with. The one you taught chess.”
“How could you do it?” For the moment I was surprised by hearing the question, then I realised it came from me. Ellandra seemed to be a decent person, how could she be so cruel. How could she do this to us?
The queen seemed confused.
“What do you mean, Peter? Liz told me that humans often honour heroes and kin by naming their descendants after them. Did I do wrong to take her name?”
“You took more than this. You became her!”
“I did not! Liz is dead, Peter, and I’m no copy of her. I am the same Ashar Sen’Dorien you met on Aldeea, no more and no less. This human form was indeed an unintended consequence, as I was dying at that time and not fully aware of my actions. Yet I don’t regret it, for I want to become one of you and help your path into the Dominion.”
I don’t know what to say. I’ve spent hours preparing for this meeting, imagining the worst. Yet never in my wildest dreams I imagined coming across Ellandra reincarnated as a human. As … a not quite alike version of Liz.
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