Origins of Hope

by Anastasia Drapievsky

  >>Wow, thanks,<< Celes said, remembering just last week when her father had yelled at her for locking the door.

  This metal door slid open to a small room and a window that looked out into the forest, with three beds in the corners. Sitting atop one bed, with glowing holo screens around them, was an ash white Lyre Selyn. Tiny orange blossoms ran down their scalp with white birch-like branches flowing downward from their skull, their black eyes and orange sclera flicking between the screens, not looking at Celes and Ayzize. The Lyre Selyn wore a shirt and trousers with intricate patterns, and their feet only had three toes that matched their three-fingered hand.

  Suddenly, Celes felt her knees grow weak and her mind blanked on what to do. This Selyn was her team mate; should Celes say something in greeting? Would the Selyn dislike her and strangle her with vines in her sleep or something?

  Ayzize clapped his hand on Celes’ shoulder. “I had your bags dropped off here,” he said, gesturing to another plain bed that had her duffle bags. “Good luck.” And with that he turned away and started down the hall.

  Celes threw herself out of the door and snatched his sleeve, the door closing behind her. “Wait, what am I supposed to do?” she squeaked, her voice higher pitched than normal.

  He looked at her, then the door, then back to her again. “Say hello. Ask how they are and what pronoun to use since I can’t tell what gender they are, or if they are nonbinary. Things like that.” When Celes just stared at him in terror, he sighed heavily. “Celes, you’ve dealt with an alcoholic father and bullies for the past… what, three years? This will be a cakewalk. Just… show an interest in your teammates and let them talk. People never shut up about themselves regardless of species. You were the one running up to strangers on the orbital stations without being scared; just remember how you did that and you’ll be fine.”

  This was different since she wouldn’t be training and living with those strangers from the orbital stations. Celes gulped but didn’t want to have Ayzize hold her hand through everything, as terrified as she felt. He had been acting more annoyed with her the past few days, and she didn’t want him to get mad at her. “O-ok.”

  “Good.” He looked down at his sleeve pointedly, and Celes reluctantly let go of him. “I’ll see you later this week. Your teammates’ mentors and I have to get together to discuss goals and other things like that, and we need to see how your dynamic is. Now go talk to that one and hopefully you’ll meet the next teammate soon.”

  “Er, OK,” she said, her voice shaking, but nodded firmly up to him. Looking satisfied, he headed down the hall skirting past running children, and she tried to quell the rising nervousness and unease as she watched him go.

  Turning for the door and gulping, she pressed her hand against the wall again, the door sliding open. If the Lyre Selyn in the room seemed perturbed by Celes’ previous hasty exit, they didn’t show it; they didn’t even react to Celes coming back to the room.

  Swallowing, and hoping that smiling and showing teeth wasn’t an act of aggression like it was in Kath’laka and Rym culture, Celes said, “Hi, I’m your new teammate.”

  The Lyre Selyn remained unmoved for the exception of its dark eyes scanning the holo screens surrounding it. Wondering if the Lyre Selyn had heard or understood her, Celes stepped carefully forward, noting that it had a Tristat on its birch, white scalp. “Um, hello?”

  “What?” The Lyre Selyn looked up, the holo screens directly in front of them dissipating, though the ones on the side remained. They had two small slits underneath their mouth, and Celes remembered that Lyre Selyn had nostrils underneath their mouths; the slits looked so much like the black facial patterning that Celes almost didn’t notice it. “Oh. A Rovanian. Or Human. Can’t tell.”

  Celes tried not to look taken aback; while she could definitely tell the difference between humans and Rovanians, other species might not. “Human. We only have hair, not hair and wires,” she said, hoping that the explanation would help the Lyre Selyn. “You’re a Lyre Selyn, right? What’s your name?”

  The Lyre Selyn’s eyes briefly strayed to one of the holo screens before turning back to Celes. “Selyn Tellaris Raxka Venlosh Alla’t Lyati.”

  Did her universal translator glitch? “Uh, not sure if my Tristat is working or not, but I didn’t understand that.”

  The Lyre Selyn frowned. “That is our—my—full name. Our—my mentor said that humans learned of other species.”

  “My planet is… poor,” Celes muttered, looking down at the floor in embarrassment.

  “So, it is true,” the Lyre Selyn said, staring at her. “Humans are still stuck in that mindset. Though our—my—species is opposite and not much better.” They kept their frown, though they spoke as if talking to themselves. “Human—you—can call this one—me Lyati. Humans use surnames too? Then Alla’t Lyati.”

  “Greetings Lyati, I’m Celeste Katsumi Dušánek.” Celes bowed, wondering if Lyre Selyn would realize it was a sign of respect. “But you can call me Celes for short,” she added as Lyati mouthed ‘Celeste’ with a cocked head. “Not to be mean, but I, ah can’t tell if I should call you a he, she, or… some other pronoun.”

  “We do not use pronouns on our planet since we are all equal, but this—I think ‘she’ sounds better to us than other pronouns, so ‘she’ is fine,” Lyati said, also surveying Celes. “What are you?”

  “Female,” Celes replied, hesitating before she asked, “Why do you keep switching to ‘me’ and ‘I’?”

  Lyati shifted on her bed, her eyes glancing away. “We have difficulty using single pronouns. Lyre Selyn use ‘we’ and ‘us’, or ‘this one’ if it is specifically… ‘me’.”

  Celes gaped at her. “Because of the equality thing?”

  “Humans call it ‘egalitarian’, but yes.”

  “That is so cool!” Celes leaned forward with a grin, and Lyati withdrew. Celes backed up and cleared her throat. “Sorry, I get excited. I’ve just met a lot of aliens for the first time a few days ago…”

  Lyati straightened, and the room smelled sweet for a moment. “Oh. Display of happiness, not anger.”

  Celes chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. “I guess we should read up on our species body language so we don’t accidentally make each other mad.”

  Lyati inclined her head. “Yes, especially the other one…” she said, her eye straying to the door when a booming voice yelled over the other kids rough housing in the hall. “She’s back.”

  “ ‘Other one’?” Celes repeated as the door behind her slid open. Turning her head to see a short Levan lower their hand from the wall, their mouth split into a row of sharp white teeth. Their face looked like someone blended a bearded dragon with a human, with a smaller nose and thin lips, their beige and green patterned skin gathering into scaly crests and ridges along their scalp. Their eyes, a brilliant green with white rimming the iris with black sclera, looked between Celes and Lyati, still holding the row of jagged teeth at them.

  “Well now, we are three!” the Levan said, strutting into the room as the door shut. While wearing black clothes, their shoulders stretched broader than their hips, and the voice sounded raspy. “And damn, I lost the bet with Adama. I was going for a Rym or an Iaiedal, but man, I’m glad I lost. Those guys are jerks; the ones I met here, anyway.” They waved a hand to the hallway, their lips turning into a frown while they still showed teeth. “I’m Aloi Vensanal, by the way,” they said, suddenly walking up to Celes and resting a forearm horizontally on Celes’ upper chest.

  Celes sputtered, moving back. “Uh, what—”

  With their free hand, Aloi grasped Celes left arm and put it over their own upper chest. “Now tell me your name. Unless you want to go by ‘human’, or wait, ‘Rovanian’?”

  Glancing to Lyati, who just silently watched, Celes cleared her throat and introduced herself again. “But Celes is my nickname, if you prefer that. I’m human.”

  “Celessssssss.” Aloi flicked out their tongue, which was not forked, though
when they blinked, the eyelid closed top to bottom and sideways. Celes would have to get used to that. “I like the ‘s’, though going ‘Celesssssss’ every time would get irritating.”

  “Indeed,” Lyati muttered.

  “Oh, and if you can’t tell, since Lyati couldn’t—not that I blame her, all of us Levan are good looking—I’m a girl. And a Delan Levan, if you couldn’t tell that either,” Aloi said, shrugging up her broad shoulders several times while her lips curled upward again while she dropped her arm from Celes’ chest, Celes doing the same. “Can I touch your hair? And your skin? None of the other humans would let me. What're your pronouns?”

  “Uh, sure, to all of them, and 'she', please,” Celes said hesitantly, wondering if the people in the orbital stations had had her current reaction when she had barreled over to them. “What do you mean by a ‘Delan Levan’?” As far as Celes remembered, the only species that made a differentiation were the Selyn since the four species shared a common ancestor.

  “Delan’s our homeworld, and Delan Levans get the sweet broad shoulders and amazing strength,” Aloi said. “Nevar is our second homeworld, and it doesn’t have as much gravity, so Nevar Levans are taller and weaker, and look like humans and Rovanians.”

  “Is Doth a Nevar Levan?” Celes asked. Doth’s body shape had looked more human than Levan.

  “Yep, in looks and the ‘stick up the butt’ attitude. Did that translate right? Hmmm.” Aloi poked one of her four long fingers on Celes’ cheek, a sharp claw scraping lightly against her skin. “Wow, humans are squishy. No wonder you need more armor than usual.”

  “Um...” Celes wasn’t sure how to react, and Lyati seemed to have gone back to reading her holo screens when Celes looked over to her for any sign of how to proceed. “We’re not totally squishy…”

  “Oh no, you need all that squishy tissue and muscle to survive on your planet. But your hair?” Aloi’s hands reached for several strands of Celes’ black hair, her irises expanding from slits to full circle. “Ooooh, so soft! This is fascinating! See, she lets me touch her,” Aloi narrowed her eyes at Lyati.

  “You wanted to pluck a flower from our head,” Lyati said, her mouth set evenly. “That would hurt.”

  “All you had to say was ‘Hey, that would hurt, don’t touch me’.”

  “This one—ugh, curses—I did.”

  “Hey, if it is too hard to go ‘I’ and ‘me’, don’t. We’ll know what you mean, we’re smart. Humans are smart, right?” Aloi asked in an aside to Celes.

  “I’m not entirely sure…” Celes said honestly, scratching the place where Aloi had touched.

  “I wouldn’t know—” Lyati stopped, her eyes widening as she looked around the room.

  “… Wouldn’t know what?”

  Lyati held up a hand, and Aloi and Celes paused. Celes looked at Aloi to see if this was normal, and Aloi blinked both sets of eyelids in confusion. Lyati’s eyes surveyed the room, examining each corner, until they fell to somewhere behind Celes. “What is that?” Lyati gestured to a space behind Celes.

  “Huh?” Celes turned, seeing nothing, though for a moment she had the wild thought of someone watching her. “What is what?”

  “I don’t see anything,” Aloi said, peering behind Celes.

  Lyati fell silent for a moment, before she said, “Hm. This one is getting used to this planet. It feels… too much of metal. Too much static. Thought someone was right behind Celes.”

  “A lot of planets are noisy and have metal buildings,” Aloi said, shrugging. “Dunno if that interferes with your ‘abilities’ or whatever they’re called.”

  “It is more to do with how things feel.” Lyati turned her eyes back to her holo screens, while Celes eyed the space behind her suspiciously. Was Lyati riling them up? “Not in a psychic sense, that this one knows Aloi doesn’t like, but in how my species connects to organic things. Metal is… harder to feel.”

  “Why don’t you like psychics?” Celes asked Aloi, feeling apprehensive. She should probably not mention she was one.

  Aloi turned her lips back to show teeth, but she didn’t look irritated with Celes, though Celes couldn’t read her mind to confirm that. “I don’t mind psychics, but a lot of them wave it in our face Levan don’t have psionic abilities; they can go put their head through a wormhole. If you don’t brag about it, then you’re good. Why? You a psychic too?” She gestured to Lyati, whose eyes looked from Aloi’s to Celes’.

  “Er… I know some things,” Celes said, then quickly added, “but I’m not better than anyone because of it.”

  Aloi split her mouth wider, with rows of very sharp teeth. “I think we’ll get along, you and I.” She clapped her hand on Celes’ shoulder, looking at Lyati while Celes stared at Aloi’s uniquely textured hand; the scales looked softer and more minute, and it was almost like regular human skin. “Group hug?”

  “This—I am not fond of touching.” Lyati said, not looking at the two of them.

  “Say no more.” Aloi waved her free hand, grinning mischievously. “Either of you want to head out to see what our competition is?”

  Oh no, did Ayzize forget to mention something? We’re not being pitted against each other in a death match, right? “What competition?”

  “The other kids. We gotta do better than them.”

  “There is no reason for competition,” Lyati scowled. “Cooperation is preferable.”

  Aloi narrowed her eyes into slits. “Competition is good for getting better. I’m not going to be the best Varôk just by sitting on my butt.”

  Celes breathed a sigh of relief. They weren’t talking about some battle royale of kids. “Both are good; we can cooperate as a team but have—nice—rivals to make our abilities stronger.”

  Aloi and Lyati looked at her then each other, nodding. “Balance. This one likes that,” Lyati stated.

  “Anyway, you said this place was too ‘metal’ or something like that; let’s go grab some food and eat outside. I’ve never seen trees like that,” Aloi said, peering out the window. “I just got here yesterday, and I want to break into several places.”

  The holo screens blinked out of existence, Lyati getting up from the bed. Standing, she looked willowy and tall, her clothes baggy. “This one should make sure you don’t.”

  “Challenge accepted,” Aloi grinned, taking the lead and backing out the door. With a mixture of hope and apprehension, Celes followed her and Lyati out the door, looking back to the space where Lyati had stared at.

  ∆∆∆

  Celes’ initial reaction of horror rooming with two aliens died down immediately. Lyati and Aloi were both familiar and unfamiliar, and Celes eagerly watched how they interacted in the same environment over the next several days. Aloi barreled through conversations, cafeteria lines, and rules without discrimination, though it came in handy when they had to go through the Hallway of Banshees, AKA screaming children.

  “Why aren’t adults supervising us?” Celes had asked, walking behind Aloi as the three of them headed down the dorm hallway to the cafeteria several days ago, squeezing past a bunch of kids running down the hall. While Aloi stood a good six inches shorter, she commanded berth from the other kids, both with her imposing figure and confident attitude.

  “They are,” Lyati had said behind her, her three-fingered hand coming into view as Lyati pointed to the edge of the wall meeting the ceiling. “Cameras are hidden in there. None in the rooms, but a lot of them in the hallway.”

  “And they’re OK with this?” Celes had asked, flinching when a Rym flew past her, ricocheting off the wall and zooming down the hall to tackle a screeching Chilao.

  “Apparently.”

  Within four days, the kids all wore themselves out, both physically and mentally, since the cacophony died down. Celes had stuck with Lyati and Aloi, trying to learn as much about them and their species as she could, and they did the same themselves. Lyati preferred to be alone, which left Celes puzzled; she had read most Lyre Selyn liked to live communally. Whereas Leva
n lived alone, Aloi stuck with Lyati and Celes like glue. At first, Aloi thought nothing of personal space, sitting on Celes’ bed or Lyati’s before Lyati kicked her off with a scowl, but once both of them asked Aloi to respect their space, Aloi complied without complaint.

  The three of them developed a routine. They wouldn’t begin training until the next week, so they had explored HQ as much as they could after getting up and eating breakfast together. Aloi tried to sneak into R&D more than once, continually smacking into the force field the doors produced whenever she tried to enter.

  “Least they don’t have laser turrets pointed at you,” Celes had said as she and Lyati picked up Aloi for the fifth time when she flew a meter back after she tried to tackle the force field during guard rotation.

  “Bet it would sting less,” Aloi had muttered, rubbing her backside.

  The day before training started, the three of them sat in a circle in the copse on the grounds, watching the older students meander around. The meeting with their mentors would be that night, and while Celes had felt nervous about Ayzize potentially acting irritable at her again, she felt ready for training. The more she pictured fighting XIKs, the more excited and powerful she felt. Lyati’s innate ability with, ironically, pyrokinesis and Aloi’s bold and brash attitude helped bolster their fantasies.

  “Your mentor’s name is ‘Adama’, right?” Celes asked Aloi, munching on her sandwich.

  Aloi shook her head. “Her name is Meiri; ‘Adama’ means… uh, what is the name for a friend of the family in English?”

  “… Friend of the family.”

  Aloi scowled. “That’s way too long and not good enough. Too cold sounding. You don’t have anything better?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “Well, it is deeper than that,” Aloi huffed. “Maybe… ‘my choice of family’.”

  “Your chosen family?”

  “Let me put it this way: if I choose someone and parents agree? Adama. If all of our family, including aunts, uncles, and grandparents, chooses together? Malan-val.”

  “This sounds confusing,” Lyati muttered.