Rhydian: The Other Side

by Devan Skyles

  “Of course, Governor,” he replied, recalling his hand. Rhydian couldn’t believe anyone so young could be elected to the Governor’s Council.

  “What is this civilian doing in the conference hall in the first place, General?”

  Corvus shifted uncomfortably. “Sir, you’re new here. This is the son of Gideon.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question, General.”

  Corvus ground his teeth in irritation but held his composure. He was about to speak up again when Redwing addressed Rhydian directly.

  “I’ve heard a great deal about you, Gideonson. Ilimíra’s golden child. I suppose you think that makes you important — special.”

  Rhydian already didn’t like Governor Redwing. He replied with a curt, “No.”

  Redwing’s eyebrows darted up. “Good. Because I have no intention of letting you think you are. It’s nothing personal, mind you. It’s just that I don’t believe in giving people special privilege. No one else gets unlimited threshold access with a gate key that is registered to an old war relic.”

  Rhydian’s heart quickened with rage. “Old war relic?” he spat. “My father was a world renowned hero! For someone who demands so much respect, you certainly don’t offer much.” He caught a quick glimpse of Corvus smiling.

  Redwing stood there for several seconds, sizing Rhydian up, before finally saying, “While I honor your father’s courage, he committed a crime when he gave you his timekeeper, and the Judges Quorum have proliferated this infraction by not confiscating it immediately. Things will be changing now that I am here, mark my words.” He lifted the timekeeper off Rhydian’s chest for just a moment, a smile on his face, before letting it drop and walking past him into the conference room.

  Rhydian was fuming from the encounter and overwhelmed from the staggering expectations that had been laid upon him that day. He felt that if he stood still much longer he’d bust, so he got a running start and burst from the conference room, exploding into the sky. He pumped his wings so hard and fast he thought they’d fall off. He wanted to be alone, somewhere no one could find him.

  Then he thought of the timekeeper hanging from his neck and he wheeled around in the air, toward his secret threshold.

  This time, he imagined, he might not come back at all.

  Barefoot

  Ellie listened wistfully to the sound of cicadas buzzing in the grass as she walked along the tree line. She loved the sound they made. To her, it was the sound of summer; the sound of running barefoot while sipping lemonade. Her head was reclined as she gazed up at the white, puffy clouds overhead. It was the one-year anniversary of the accident. One year ago today she wasn’t alone.

  She had Ruger for company, of course, but he was going home soon. She’d been watching him for a friend overseas; a friend who knew about her particular brand of guy problems. Caring for him and her horse was a welcome distraction, but she still couldn’t help but wonder what her life might be like if her parents hadn’t left that day.

  Despite the negative circumstances, she was a happy, well-adjusted person, and she realized she had much to be thankful for. So rather than sulk in despair and self-pity, she decided to take a walk and remember her parents and the time they’d shared.

  At times, when she was alone, she’d look up into the sky and talk to them, hoping they could somehow hear her. Today she told them how happy she was to be their daughter and how thankful she was that they made her who she was while they were still there with her. She told them of the interesting people she’d taken into the sky that week. She told them how maybe she should give Benji a chance. He wasn’t really her type, but after Desmond, maybe that was a good thing.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw someone in the distance, running through the trees. She stopped walking and gazed out, curious. The person was no longer there, though she could swear he’d been running toward the stream. This wasn’t uncommon. The stream running through her property was sort of a local hotspot for teenagers and families in the hot summer months, and she really didn’t mind as long as they were respectful. Something was strange about this visitor, though. He wasn’t coming from the direction of the town, and the forest went on for over a hundred miles in the other direction.

  Out of curiosity, she decided to check things out. She walked around the field to a path that led to the deepest part of the stream; the swimming hole. As she got closer she heard a male voice muttering angrily about “the Governor” and how he’d like to “clip his wings,” but surely she’d heard wrong.

  She walked up near the water’s edge and saw a young man, maybe a little older than herself, lounging back in the deep pool, his eyes closed. He had a strong build and dark curls that sort of hung in his face slightly. From his neck hung a small, strange sort of pocket watch. He was still mumbling about something apparently upsetting.

  “Bad day?” she asked.

  The man’s eyes shot open in surprise. She couldn’t help but notice how startlingly blue they were. He stood quickly and looked up at her.

  “Didn’t mean to startle you,” she apologized.

  The man looked her up and down in apparent astonishment. She’d grown used to guys looking at her like she was pretty, though she never quite knew how to respond.

  “You didn’t,” he replied. “I just, uh, I thought I was alone.”

  She felt embarrassed for having intruded. “Sorry. You seemed upset. I often come here when I’ve had a bad day.”

  “Is that why you’re here now?” he inquired.

  “No, just out for a walk. My name’s Ellie. What’s yours?”

  The man hesitated half a beat before answering, “Rhydian.”

  “Rhydian.” She was terrible at remembering names, so she made a habit of repeating them as soon as anyone introduced themselves. “That’s an interesting name.”

  Rhydian smiled, “Yeah, it’s traditional in my family to use names similar to family members’. My father was Gideon.”

  “Rhydian, son of Gideon,” she said, testing the sound of the words. “Sounds so old-timey. I like that.”

  “Thanks. Were you named for anyone in your family?”

  “I don’t think so,” she pondered, “but the only family I ever really had were my parents. Ellie is short for Elliot, but I kind of got teased a lot growing up for having a boy’s name, so I shortened it. So how’d you get here, anyway? You hike in?”

  Rhydian seemed to think for a moment, then answered, “Uh, yeah. I hiked.”

  She looked around a bit. “Where are your shoes?”

  “Um, I—” he stammered, “I guess I forgot them.” He looked embarrassed.

  This amused Ellie tremendously, and she chuckled despite herself. “I wish I could forget my shoes! You know, when you’re a kid you never want to slow down to put them on, so you just go out barefoot. I miss that.”

  Rhydian shrugged. “So, take them off.”

  Ellie smiled, intrigued by the simplicity of his logic, and shrugging, reached down, undid the laces of her shoes, and kicked them off.

  “Feels better right?” he asked.

  “It does! I don’t know why I ever put them on.” She sat by the water and dipped her feet in. “You new in town?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and explained, “Small town. After a while you get to know the local faces. I haven’t seen you before.”

  “I’ve been here a few times,” he answered truthfully. “I think I’ll be around more often, too. I’m starting to get used to the grou— I mean, this place.”

  She chuckled. “Be careful. People that come here tend to get stuck here.”

  “Are you stuck?”

  “I’m—” she thought for a beat, “happily stuck. I could never live in a big city. I enjoy the quiet. I think better out here. Besides, it was my parents’ land, and I think I kind of owe it to them to keep the place up.

  “You don’t get lonely?” he inquired.

  “I suppose everyone
gets lonely sometimes. What about you? Do you live in a big city?”

  “I guess you could say that, but there’s enough open space for everyone. When I need time to myself I just—” he paused for a moment.

  “Go for a walk?” she supplied.

  “In a manner of speaking,” he replied, a little unsure. “Today I just needed to get away from everything.”

  “Well,” she replied, “this is a great place for that. So you’re welcome in my stream any time you need it.”

  Rhydian was pleased. “Thank you. Are you going to get in?”

  “With my clothes on?” she exclaimed. Then she looked down and saw that Rhydian was wearing long pants under the water (of an unusual style and material, too).

  “They dry off,” he laughed, and sunk down until the water was up to his chin, submerging the device hanging from his chest.

  “Oh, your watch!” Ellie exclaimed.

  “My what?” he asked, perplexed.

  She gestured at her own neck, “You’re pocket watch. Won’t it get ruined?”

  Rhydian looked down and realized what she was talking about. He grabbed the timepiece and held it up out of the water. “Oh this? No, water won’t damage it.” Then, to avoid any questions about the device, he took it off and tucked it in his pocket. “Anyway, the water feels wonderful.”

  What a peculiar boy, she thought to herself. She admired his childlike, carefree attitude. Why not? So she stepped into the stream, fully dressed, and sunk down into the water across from Rhydian. She gasped at first in the cold water, but after a moment she acclimated to the temperature and smiled brilliantly.

  “Okay, this is fun,” she admitted, and asked coyly, “You’re kind of a strange guy aren’t you?

  Rhydian wasn’t sure how to answer that, but he guessed by her inflection that she didn’t think “strange” was all that bad.

  Fleeting Glances

  Rhydian was a little unsure of himself in his present situation. He had never interacted with a human to this degree before, but for once, the human was the one asking all the questions. He knew if anyone at home found out, he’d have his threshold privileges revoked in a heartbeat. It was bad enough he was using an unregistered threshold in the first place, a crime that could get his flight feathers clipped for months.

  On the other hand, Ellie’s beautiful smile made him forget all about the consequences. Every time she smiled, her nose crinkled just a little and her eyes sparkled. He’d never seen green eyes before. All Ilimíri males had blue eyes, and the occasional female had some shade of violet. But green seemed so exotic and foreign.

  “So, what is it you do?” she asked.

  “I work with metal,” he answered. He was surprised at himself, but something about her made him want to be truthful.

  “Like, in a factory?” she prompted.

  “No,” he answered. “My boss doesn’t believe in factories. He says it takes the quality and the personal craftsmanship out of the work. I work in a forge.”

  “A forge,” she said skeptically. “Like hammer and tongs, anvils, that sort of thing?”

  “Basically.”

  “Wow,” she said, impressed. “So what kind of things do you make?”

  “Knives, swords, things like that,” he replied.

  “Whoa, really? Get out!” She exclaimed.

  He wasn’t sure how he’d upset her, but he sadly stood up and began to exit the water.

  “No, no!” she said. “I didn’t mean it literally. It’s just an expression. You know, like, ‘that’s awesome!’”

  He settled back down. He couldn’t understand how “get out” could mean, “that’s awesome,” but he accepted the compliment. She was foreign to him.

  “So, do you know a lot about ancient weapons then?”

  He couldn’t help but laugh inwardly at the term, ‘ancient.’ Ilimíra’s physics were vastly different than the other side, so while human’s developed combustion weapons that could only work in their world, the Ilimíri spent centuries perfecting weapons technology. Swords and bows were of higher quality than any humans had ever created, and the combat systems for those weapons had developed so highly into sophisticated art forms that they were unparalleled by any other civilization. He could not, of course, tell Ellie this.

  “I’m competent,” he said modestly.

  “Do you know how to sword fight?” she asked with that brilliant smile.

  “I’m good with a few sword disciplines,” he replied. “It was part of my education.”

  “Wow! I wish I’d gone to your high school!”

  She shifted her weight and slipped on the slick river rocks, causing her bare foot to touch his. A tense moment of silence ensued, wherein they both cast their eyes downward. Rhydian’s heart fluttered.

  Rhydian finally broke the silence. “I doubt you’d have liked my school. Everyone there was being educated as soldiers. I guess I never saw myself as the warrior type.”

  “They taught fencing at a military school?” she asked.

  He suddenly realized he’d said too much. “Well, uh— you know, it was an elective course.”

  The lie seemed to satisfy her skepticism and he breathed a sigh of relief. He realized he’d have to be more careful about what he said, so he decided to take the focus off himself.

  “What do you do?” He asked.

  “I fly,” she simply stated.

  At first he thought he’d heard her wrong. “You fly?”

  “Yeah, I’m a pilot. Just small aircraft, but if you ask me, that’s the best way to fly. It makes you feel more connected to the sky, you know?”

  Rhydian’s heart sped. A human that flew? She was speaking his language! “That’s incredible! How did you learn how to fly?”

  “Well, Ever since I was little I remember having dreams of flying. It was the freest feeling I’d ever experienced. So I told myself at a very young age that I was going to be a pilot. Most people said I’d grow out of the fixation, but I never did. So, when I was old enough, my parents enrolled me in flight school and I got my pilot’s license at sixteen. Now I don’t have to dream of the sky anymore. I go there almost every day.”

  Rhydian knew well the alluring draw of the open sky. It was at the heart of all Ilimíri. It was the foundation of their very souls. And it was exciting to hear that a human could possess the same quality. Perhaps their cultures weren’t so different after all.

  Rhydian became so enthused that he blurted out, “I love the sky, too! Every time I’m up there it’s like—”

  “Going home,” they both said at once.

  Ellie beamed at him with her vibrant, green eyes, making his heart melt. “So, you love flying too.”

  Rhydian’s heart skipped a beat, “Well, I— I’m not a pilot or anything. I just—”

  “You’ve been a passenger,” she supplied. Her smile turned a bit mischievous now. “Have you ever jumped out of one before?”

  This caught him completely off guard. Haman’s piloting flying machines he more than understood— but jumping out of one? Without wings, how could they possibly make it to the ground safely? Perhaps another craft lay in waiting to catch them? The whole concept seemed completely ludicrous! He flashed back briefly to his experience falling to the forest floor and shuddered.

  She must have seen his dubious expression because she burst out laughing, a wild, uproarious, joyful sound.

  “I’ll take that as a no!” she laughed. “Seriously, though, there’s nothing like it in the world! Everyone should try it at least once.”

  Rhydian was doubtful, but he kept his reluctance to himself.

  “It’s like, the closest you can get to actually flying!” she continued, “No cockpit or rudder or flaps. None of that! Just you and the open sky. I mean, can you imagine what that would be like; just to take off and soar through the air?” A dreamy look overcame her.

  “I can imagine,” he replied.

  The two eventually got out of the water and sat in a sunny patch in the grass
, side by side. They found the conversation flowed naturally between them, and they laughed back and forth until they lost track of the time. Rhydian didn’t even notice he was hungry until his stomach growled.

  As if anticipating his hunger, Ellie said, “Have you had lunch? Because I could, you know, make us something… if you want.” She seemed a little insecure asking.

  “Actually, that sounds great!” he said, silently berating himself for sounding too eager.

  She smiled and stood up. “Okay, well, it’s this way.” She nodded in the direction of the house.

  Rhydian stood and began to follow her. Of course, he was already well aware of the house’s location.

  “Um, where’s your shirt?” she asked.

  Rhydian, looked around, pretending to look for the shirt he knew he hadn’t been wearing. “I guess it must have washed downstream.”

  She shook her head good naturedly and gave a little laugh. “Come one. I think I have something that’ll fit you.”

  Ellie picked up her shoes and they walked barefoot down the path and around the grassy field. She had to tip-toe over a few areas of rough terrain, whereas Rhydian was completely used to being barefoot. They managed to find even more to discuss along the way, and when they finally reached the house, she stopped and barred the door for a moment.

  “So, I wasn’t expecting company,” she explained, “so you’ll have to forgive the mess.”

  “I’ll keep my eyes closed the whole time,” he joked.

  She rolled her eyes playfully and turned around to open the door. He followed her in, looking around as he entered. There were family pictures on the walls and a strange device that looked like a sort of picture frame with only black glass within. He then noticed the pile of photographs on the coffee table and picked up the image on top.

  “Are these your parents?” he asked.

  She peered over from the kitchen, where she’d been rummaging through a large, white box with a light on inside.