Lyati then looked back at Aloi and nodded, her eyes returning to her holo screens while Aloi turned to Ayzize. “OK, fine, but if she comes back crying again, be prepared for me to annoy you for the rest of your life. As a younger sibling I’ve got a lot of experience with it. Heed my warning, human.”
Ayzize restrained himself from smiling. He knew she was serious. “I’ll heed it.”
“In the woods out front,” Aloi waved a hand behind her in its direction.
“Copse,” Lyati corrected, and Aloi hissed in annoyance at her.
“Whatever, copse, the place with a bunch of trees.” Aloi looked back at Ayzize and scowled, “And seriously, I mean it. She comes back crying, you won’t ever get a moment of peace.”
“I know. Thank you.” Ayzize turned to leave, then paused, looking back at the two girls. “Do me a favor?”
Aloi scoffed, looking back at Lyati in disbelief, who had raised her head in surprise. “What?”
“Keep that fire and that calm.” He motioned to the two of them respectively. “You will do well with it. But thank you for caring about Celes. She needs people who really care about her.”
Lyati stared at him, and perhaps sensing his deeper meaning, nodded. Aloi on the other hand grimaced. “Yeah, fine, we’ll do that, but how about you show that you care too? Humans need to be more honest.”
He would not divulge in the intricacies of their relationship, and he thought he was rather blunt, but Ayzize nodded. Aloi was growing on him. “Thank you.” As he turned to leave, he heard Aloi shut the door and then ask Lyati, “Think he’ll do it?”
Night spread outside, though the light strips lighting the way into the copse shone brightly. The complex never really slept, with certain species being nocturnal while others were more flexible. While most bipedal species headed for their rooms for rest, the aquatic species, Kath’laka, Rovanians, and the Levan became active, jogging or heading off to their shifts alongside yawning humans. Only a few people stopped to chat alongside the path through the copse, and it didn’t take long to track Celes down.
She huddled against an Arber tree, watching glowing white petals drift lazily down, the light illuminating her face. Suddenly starting at his footsteps, she jumped up, quickly wiping her face with her sleeve before she turned to face him as he approached. Yeah, that doesn’t make me feel any better.
“You’re back,” she said, not looking at his eyes, though her voice held some concern.
“Evidently,” he said before he could stop himself. Now was not the time for being sarcastic. “Celes—"
“I-I’m sorry,” she blurted and still kept her eyes on the ground. “You told me not to ask a lot of questions, and I did anyway. Then I yelled at you, and then you went off on a job—if you died and that was the last thing I said to you? I’m sorry, I'm really sorry...”
“I’m sorry too, Celes,” he said gently. “I should have explained it better.”
Celes looked up at him, her eyes wide in surprise as heavy tears streamed down her face. The sight of it, of strong Celes, made him nearly want to cry himself. “I-I mean, you seemed mad though, and I still made you madder...”
“No excuse for it; I shouldn’t have reacted that way." He knelt down in front of her, under her eye level. She couldn’t have grown already, right? “I know you can read people well, but we were both a little high-strung. My behavior was a lot meaner than it needed to be.”
She shifted in place. “So, you’re not mad at me? You forgive me?”
Ayzize chuckled. “No, I’m not mad, and if anyone should ask for forgiveness, I should ask you.” She stared at him with disbelief, so he continued. “I never wanted you to feel bad or feel like I didn't understand, and... yeah, you looking ticked at me is not something I'm used to.” He glanced away. “If XIKs or bad people gave me that look? Totally fine. A kid I care about and need to look after? Not at all fine. I won’t be doing it again and will... be working on how to talk to kids better so you don’t feel you have to hold things in around me. I reminded you of your dad, right?” At her hesitant nod, he said with full honesty, “I never wanted that, and I apologize. If you need time, I’ll be patient.”
She stared at him silently for a few seconds, then patted his shoulder with her small hand. “We can both be sorry, but I forgive you. You won’t be mean, and I won’t make you madder. I’ll listen to you, and trust you from now on.”
“I won’t be 'madder' period, but thank you for your trust, Celes,” he said, tentatively reaching out mentally. She felt wary still, but calmer and relieved overall. “Do you mind if I join you?”
She nodded, sitting back down against the trunk, and he shifted to sit down next to her. They both silently watched the leaves flutter down, the calls of older recruits sounding on the other side of the copse, the buzzing of the force field surrounding them humming in the dirt beneath their legs. Ayzize looked to the gate where he and Celes had entered over two weeks ago.
“Did the job go OK?” she asked, looking him over with the corner of her eyes, checking for wounds.
“Well enough,” he said. “Besides the, er, earlier incident, how have you been holding up?”
She laughed nervously, using her sleeve to dry her face again. “Oh, well, pretty good. Aloi and Lyati have been nice, even if they are different, but that is a good thing. We’ve been trying to learn about each other so we don’t make each other mad.”
“I could learn a thing or two from you guys then,” Ayzize muttered. “You guys offering lessons?”
Celes laughed again, this time in assurance. “No, but we’ll see. There are some kids here who’re jerks; one of them pushed Lyati, and Aloi punched him—you’re not allowed to tell anyone that,” she hissed, “but he’s fine now. He actually apologized to Lyati, and now him and Aloi are friends. I don’t know how, but it is weird. I don’t trust him still, but... it is just different here, and that’s... pretty cool,” she said. “I think I’m just tired, but I have a lot of classes to do.”
“You need to rest up for the next few days,” Ayzize told her firmly. “You’ll get a break for a few days since you’ve been through more in the past week than most people do in years.”
“But there’s so much that—”
“You will learn after you rest. Trust me, it’s not going anywhere,” he said, perhaps a little too bitterly at the end.
She pouted, and he felt his spirits lift on seeing an expression other than sadness or caution. “OK, fine.”
They stayed silent for a few more minutes, watching the leaves again, before he caught her glancing at him every so often. “What?”
“Uhm...” her violet eyes shifted away before they darted back to his. “I’ll just say this real quick, so please don’t get mad. I just hope you’re OK from... what happened back then. Like way back then,” she said, motioning to the gate quickly. “All I wanted to say.”
Ayzize looked at the gate. Sighing, he remembered Imbiana’s point of him identifying with Celes better than most. “I’ll say this much about it, and no, I’m not mad at you,” he said to Celes, keeping his voice even when she withdrew. “You may as well know, since you’re my apprentice, and, well, it is only fair.”
She stared at him for a moment, then shifted her posture to face him, waiting silently.
Mentally beating back harsh memories, he glanced to the gate again. “My situation was actually similar to yours. Long story short, I joined Raxdrýn when I was twenty, not when I was your age. I was in graduate school for advanced programming and mechanical engineering when I got word XIKs killed my parents while they were off-planet.”
Her eyes widened at his words, but he kept going, putting some emotional distance between himself and what he said. “I didn’t handle it well. I dropped out of college and came here. I was furious and upset, convinced that with my martial arts and boxing experience that I could become an able fighter, and refused to take ‘no’ for an answer when Raxdrýn told me otherwise. With some help, I barely managed to kill
two XIKs that had been preying on the more rural parts of Tezěkír before any of the Varôk got there, and joined when the Chairman at the time invited me. It is still bit of a sore subject,” he muttered.
She said nothing for a few moments, then she scooted up to him. Before he could ask what she was doing, she reached out and hugged him. He froze for a second, her thin arms around his shoulders, but he put an arm around her back, feeling awkward. He was affectionate with Imbiana, but he wasn't sure how to express it to a kid he more or less adopted. “Ah, it’s OK, Celes—”
“I know it hurts a lot,” she said, squeezing him tighter. “I’m sorry about your mom and dad. You must have loved them a lot. I know why you want to kill XIKs so much.”
Times like these he wished he were more in touch with his emotions. While he abhorred showing any signs of weakness, he felt like Celes would accept it were he to show any. “I know, but,” he put his hands on her small shoulders, and pulled her away enough so he could look at her face. Violet eyes staring at him, he continued, “but don’t be like me, where you shut yourself off to everything. I’m paying for that now, and I will have to learn to not to do that anymore. I have to learn how to balance it, and maybe I can watch to see how you do it. In return, I will make sure you live, and that you have a future. A nice one without me being a major jerk.”
She smiled, nodding. “OK. We’ll learn together,” she said, accepting an awkward pat on her head. “You seem kinda ‘ugh, I don’t know how to touch people’ when you do that.”
“And you’re right, I don’t,” he confirmed, and she backed off a little. “But I’ll learn. Eventually.”
“Good, cuz I like hugs,” she grinned, and he chuckled.
“Yeah, I noticed that...” he said, smiling. “Oh, and not to bribe you or anything,” he grasped inside his pocket and took out the necklace, holding it out for her. She blinked, her head cocked as she reached for it.
“This is for me? What is it?”
“Well, it is too small for me, and it’s a necklace,” he said as she took it, her thumb sliding over the textured white surface. “It’s a shell from the American continent on Earth.”
“Wow, thank you. Is that where you got this?” she asked, tracing the inscribed lines of a wolf.
“I made it.”
“ ‘Made’—you made this?” she gaped between him and the necklace. “Wow, that is so cool!”
“Hey, I can be artistic if I want,” he said in mock hurt.
She giggled, slipping the leather string over her neck. “I’m sorry; this is really nice and pretty, and I love it. I just didn’t know you knew how to make something like this.”
“A branch in my dad’s ancestors made jewelry like this for thousands of years, and he passed it onto me,” he explained, the corners of his mouth twitching in the memory of his dad proudly teaching him.
“Our parents passed down a lot of things.” Her smile faded as she stared at the necklace. “Y’know, I gave Zander the only necklace I got from mom.”
Ayzize stared at Celes, patting her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“I did it because I knew she wanted him to have it, since I remembered her more.” She looked up at him. “Now that you gave me this, it’s like I have another half… like you’re my dad.”
Ayzize had to grit his teeth and look away for several seconds to make sure he didn’t tear up. “Well, I’ll try to be a better one,” he said thickly. “For that comment alone, I’m taking you out for ice cream.”
“Whoa, wait, there’s ice cream here?” she gasped, whipping her head around the complex as if waiting for an ice cream stand to suddenly pop up.
“Humans would riot if there weren’t; a lot of species like it too. Besides, I’d rather not go talk with Doth and need an excuse to leave.”
“Wow, a present and ice cream!” Celes sprang to her feet as Ayzize stood up. “We should fight more often! Kidding, kidding,” she grinned when Ayzize glared at her, skipping for the gates while Ayzize followed her.
With a smile as he watched her, he felt the knot of worry dissipate at the knowledge that he would remain her mentor. It would take a while to get to where they needed to work together, though at least they set off with a better start. She would still need to learn restraint, and he to learn flexibility. This time, he would keep her safe, not just in memory of her mother, but for himself.
Eighteen
Zander studied the tall tree, with peeling spruce-colored bark, and white leaves that some older humans said looked like maple leaves. Little white buds sprouted at the ends of the brittle branches, and a sweet scent perfumed the air. Many other kinds of trees formed an ethereal forest in the atrium, all with different hues, leaves, and height. When Zander last scried Celes, she sat under a tree that looked exactly like the one he stared at now. While the forest smelled earthy and clean, this tree smelled sweet, like candy.
“That’s an Arber tree.” Xenith gestured to the tree. He had cut his hair shorter, and he wore his blue sash with a white stripe in the middle. He seemed rather proud of it when Zander had asked about the new color, saying he had decided to study teaching. “It’s supposed to glow at night.”
“I know,” Zander said. Xenith gave him a knowing look. “But I didn’t know it smelled like candy. This is the best tree in the galaxy!”
Xenith chuckled, “Is that what you smell? Candy?”
“Yeah, why?”
“This tree gives off a pheromone, or smell, that makes someone think of something they like,” Xenith said, lightly tapping the trunk of the tree. “It’s supposed to be a way for the tree to defend itself, but if it smells like candy, that might backfire,”
“I’m not going to run up to it and start eating the bark,” Zander rolled his eyes. “It smells like candy, but I don’t wanna eat it. It reminds me of....” he scratched his cheek. His memory produced a fuzzy image of a candy section in a grocery store. “Hm, I dunno. It’s weird. Do you smell candy?”
“Me? Nah, I smell snow, actually,” Xenith said, staring at the tree.
Zander remembered the mountain view Xenith had shown him in the holo room. “What does it smell like?”
“Crisp, cold air.”
Zander nodded politely, but would much rather smell candy over cold air.
“So, you said you wanted my help with something,” Xenith said, motioning for Zander to follow him as they continued walking through the atrium.
“Uhm, yeah,” Zander said, looking back at the tree again. “I’ve been seeing things.”
Xenith glanced at him, privately projecting, >>You mean, during...?<<
“What? No, not that,” Zander shook his head, and threw a hand to the plants. “I mean, seeing things. The ropes? The wiggling? They’re all doing it. The plants.”
Xenith frowned. “Did you tell your teachers and Mato about it?”
“Yeah,” Zander replied. “Mato said that it might be clair-senti-something, and he is trying to find out how to help me. What do you think?”
Xenith shifted his gaze from Zander. “You would have to listen to them, since I haven’t got a clue.”
“I still wanna know.”
Xenith paused. “If you are told differently, then you listen to your teachers and Mato. Clairsentience is… hmm... you might feel the connection of organic—living—things.”
Zander could look with his eyes and see something was alive; he didn’t need special powers for that. “So?”
“Well, I dunno.” Xenith pointed to a random black trunk with blue leaves. “Do you see anything between it and us?”
Zander looked between the tree and Xenith, and if he stared hard enough, the air looked different between the space between the two trees. “Yeah. Like the air is shaking a lot or something. But what can I do with it?”
“There’s a lot of things you can do with sensing that, like transmuting, though you probably wouldn’t be able to do anything until you mastered ‘looking’ at it,” Xenith smiled, motioning for Zander to follow
him. “Why don’t we ask Tok or Qi? They might know something.”
Nodding, Zander followed Xenith, glancing back at the spruce and white tree that seemed to glow a little brighter.
∆∆∆
After lunch with Xenith, Nentok and Qianii, Zander meandered over to the playrooms. Nentok had looked him over to practice his new Medpsy training while Qianii monitored him, but both of them firmly said to check with the adults since they would know more. With no further answers on what his abilities were, Zander went to find one of his friends to play.
He found Quath and Zimn in one of the AR rooms, playing a new game that had just come out, but no sign of Benca nor Vafri. As much as he wanted to play with the two of them, Zander wanted to talk to Vafri, since she seemed to be alone a lot. Efrik had left them alone, especially Vafri, but Zander still didn’t trust Efrik. If Efrik cornered Vafri alone and took her by surprise, Zander knew Efrik would try to hurt her.
When Zander didn’t find Vafri in any of the many playrooms, he felt frustrated and anxious. The school year for the Melyns had ended a few days ago, giving students two months of no lessons, which meant adults didn’t have their eye on Efrik as much. Rumors flew around the Melyn that Efrik stayed with the counselors, but Zander wanted to be careful. While Zander himself felt worried about being cornered, he felt more worried over Vafri since her telekinetic abilities were even worse than his.
He stopped at the end of the hallway, looking both ways down the adjacent hallways that branched off into the residential wings or into the atrium, and headed down the residence hallway.
The white symbol over Vafri’s door meant she wasn’t there. Zander chewed his lip. Atrium, maybe? Observatories? Cafeteria? Public places with lots of other people around, but he couldn’t shake the paranoia. He didn’t have a way to call her yet either, since they hadn’t exchanged each other’s signal via Tristat.
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