Somehow, miraculously, he’d managed to make an even more boring landscape than before. No tree, no grass, just flat dirt. She groaned.
“Now, turn all that dirt into sand.”
“Like at a beach.”
“Exactly.” She pictured a massive beach without end, no water or mainland. It bordered on horrifying. “Now, the sand piles up, makes dunes, act like hills, but it’s aaaaall sand.”
“You lived there?”
“Yup.”
“And you moved here now.”
“Well, sorta not really. I move around all over the place. Wherever my job takes me.”
“Yeah. You gotta drive all sorts of people all sorts of places!”
“Exactly, love.” He ruffled her head. Behind them, the window reopened.
“Liam, she isn’t bothering you, is she?”
“No, Cassie. We’re having fun. She’s learning about deserts.”
“Don’t teach her too much now.”
He waved her off with a ‘psh’ and put his feet up on the wood before them.
“Why’d you live in a desert?”
“It’s where my job took me.”
“Sounds boring.”
“What does?”
“Riding in this in a desert.”
“Oh no. It would be. Horribly boring,” he laughed. “But even people in the desert need to get from place to place. Most of them use camels and duskbacks.”
Rhia gasped. “Duskbacks? The big lizard bugs?”
He laughed. “Yeah, those things. They’re pretty lizardy, but they look kinda bugish, I guess. Their wings are buggy.”
“And they fly them across the desert? That’s so cool!”
“They smell bad, though. They’re also not very comfy on account of bein’ all scaly.”
Rhia got lost in thought, thinking of riding a big lizard bug. Maybe that would make being in a desert cool. Maybe. “Hey, you wanna hear a song?”
“Yeah.” She smiled at him, waiting for elaboration.
“Good, I just so happen to play the lute.”
“I love lutes! Mummy brings me to pubs to listen to bards.”
“Fantastic! This should be right up your alley, then.” He hopped off the bench and, after she got off, lifted the seat to reveal a compartment below. In it, she spotted a few bottles of ‘adult beverages,’ something her dad taught her not to touch, a long pipe with a pouch beside it, a few changes of clothes, a box, and, as a lute case was removed, a painting of a beautiful Milaric woman laying on her side completely naked.
“Who’s that?” She pointed at the painting.
“Oh! Hey, that.” He stammered as he shut the bench. “She’s, um... my... wife.”
“She’s really pretty.”
“Yes. She is.”
“How come she’s got no clothes?”
“Yeah, Liam,” she heard from inside the cab behind the ajar window. “How come your wife doesn’t have any clothes?”
“Oh, well, that is because... she’s... hot.” Her mother burst into laughter inside the cabin. “It was hot there. Also art. Lots of art is naked. Nude, they call it. It’s art. Artistic. She’s an art. A model. Gets painted, she does. Obviously, ‘cause she’s painted there. On that.”
“You miss her, huh?”
“Huh?”
“‘Cause you’re out here, she’s at home, you miss her, so you have a painting of her. That’s really sweet, Mr. Albreight.”
“Yeah, Liam,” Cassandra said through choked laughs behind Rhia. “So sweet.”
“Yep. That. So, song? Yeah, song.” He popped the case and removed a smooth, polished lute as the chuckles from inside the cab died down. It was made of a soft, light wood, polished delicately, and carved intricately with a complex symbol she didn’t recognize.
His fingers danced over the strings, and a beautifully haunting melody rang out of it. He played the melody for a few minutes, then accompanied it with his own voice. While his speaking voice was a bit higher pitched and fast, his singing voice fell a little deeper, slowed down, and belted out with ease. It rang over the flatlands of Milakria, his sonorous tones dancing over the fields of grass. She leaned against him and closed her eyes and he adjusted his arm around her, playing all the while.
Rhia almost fell into a nap before he stopped and she heard the lute drop down into the case.
“Why’d you stop, Mr. Albreight?”
“We’re here.” She looked up and saw she was suddenly approaching a town. It was large by conventional standards in the area, but small compared to what she was used to. The tree city of Teral housed many tens of thousands of people, while this town seemed to house no more than a single thousand, if that at all. A church steeple pierced the skyline as the highest point while she saw a depot rapidly approaching, along with a strip of shops on the main drag. “Welcome to Nephkeska, Lady Irimot.”
“Thanks for the ride, Liam.” Cassandra stepped out of the carriage and onto the depot porch while a worker unloaded the cargo.
“Anytime, love. Anything for you.”
“Oh stop.” She grabbed a trunk out of the cab and handed it down. “We’re finally here, Rhia! What do you think?”
“It’s hot.”
“You’re darn right it is. Sun’s setting, though, so it’ll cool down some.”
Mr. Albreight, standing behind her, mouthed the words, ‘No, it won’t,’ and Rhia giggled.
“Seriously, Liam,” she said, turning around. “Thank you so much for this. All of this.” Rhia heard her voice start to break as she hugged him. “It means everything to me.”
“Aw, Cassie. No trouble at all. You know I’m always there if you need me.”
“Thank you so much.”
“Anytime. And hey,” he broke the hug and stared her in the eyes. “Remember. Ilani? He’s a fuc— friggin’—” Liam glanced at Rhia quickly, “friggin’ bad, mean, terrible person. He’s a bastard,” she heard him half-whisper, “and you deserve better. So, so much better. You’re going to be so much happier out here without him.”
“I know. Thank you.”
“Whatever I can do to help.”
“How ‘bout a beer when you get this unloaded?”
“I would love a good beer. Too bad we’re in Milakria.”
“Oh pish. Don’t be pretentious. You and this fine lady here,” she motioned to the depot worker unloading chests, “will lug the cargo to the room, I’ll make sure Rhia’s settled, then we’re getting a drink and catching up.”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am.” Liam and the depot worker both grabbed trunks and began to haul them up the stairs to the rooms above the main station and Rhia grabbed her pack.
“How do you know Mr. Albreight, mummy?” Rhia followed her mother as they both hauled their packs to the stairs.
“Mr. Albreight and I go back quite a ways, baby. We’ve known each other since we were a little older than you. We were schoolmates back in Terathor, where you were born.”
“Cool.” They went through the open door to find a small room with basic furnishings. A dresser, two beds, and two lamps. Rhia went over to her trunk as the assistant was setting it down, popped it open, grabbed her book out of it, and jumped onto the bed.
“Hey Rhi,” her mom beckoned for her attention. “Me and Mr. Albreight are going out for a bit, grab some drinks. If I’m not back when you go to bed, just lock the door, I have a key. Now go to bed eventually, you have school when you wake.”
“But muuum!”
“Nope. You gotta have school, Rhia. You’ve had half a turn off already.”
Rhia sighed and flopped onto her back, book in hand.
“I’ll see you in a little bit. Love you.”
“Love you too,” she said from b
ehind the tome. She heard the door close and the clomping of feet.
“You sure she’ll be alright?” Rhia heard from the other side of the door.
“She’ll be happier reading a book in the quiet than she’d be in a pub.”
“Yeah, no music out here and such. Good kid you got, Cass. Got a good head on her shoulders.”
“Yeah, the one good thing to come out of this whole... shit.”
“I really am sorry about it.”
“I don’t wanna talk about it, Liam. Anything else, really.”
“Of course. So where d’ye...” the voices trailed out of hearing range and Rhia zoned into her book. She had been getting into the science fiction books lately, books on far-flung futures with crazy technology and life on other worlds, weird alien species, and fascinating tales of adventure. It distracted her from reality and made her brain whirr, thinking about all the science-y things she was learning in school.
For her, history was pretty boring, and while reading was fun, they made her read a whole slew of boring material that she couldn’t care less about. Science and math were where she had fun; learning how things worked was endlessly fascinating to her. These books combined the two: interesting science-y things and fun reading.
For a couple cents, she read about an explorer on another planet that was completely covered in ice as she tried to find a place to make a home for other explorers. She ended up falling through the ice and finding weird praying mantis-like people under the ice, already living there.
By then, however, she was yawning feverishly, so she marked the page, set it aside, locked the door, stripped naked and curled up in bed.
When she woke up, her mom was in the opposite bed, naked as her, blanked thrown on the floor. It was still miserably hot, and Rhia found she’d kicked the blanket off in her sleep as well. Quietly, she slunk out of bed, got into her chest, dressed herself, and accidentally let the lid slam closed.
Cassandra woke with a start and her eyes immediately narrowed as a hand went to her head. Rhia walked over apologetically. “Sorry, mummy. It slammed.”
“It’s okay, baby. Happy waking.” She kissed Rhia on the forehead. “Mommy’s head hurts a lot, so she’s gonna go back to sleep. You just go to school, okay?”
“Okay.” She grabbed her pack and started out the door, then stopped. “Hey, mummy?”
“Yeah, pumpkin?”
“Where’s the school?”
“Oh balls,” Cassie muttered under her breath. “I don’t even know. Um, if you go next door, just one door over, Mr. Albreight should be up, he can show you where it is.” She muttered, “God, he’s gonna hate me” as Rhia scampered up. She kissed her mom on the forehead.
“Feel better, mummy!”
“I will, baby, after a glass of water. Or ten.”
She slunk out of the room, closed it behind her, and gently knocked on the door. No one answered. She knocked louder and said, slightly louder than normal, “Mister Albreight?” Inside, something crashed, fell over, something else crashed, and heavy footsteps led to the door.
As the door opened, Rhia looked up at the man she’d seen all suited up yesterdess in naught but a baggy pair of pants. The slender, gaunt man, it seemed, underneath was loaded with muscle. He had a defined six-pack, a toned chest and arms, though not bulky in the slightest, but defined. Intricate tribal tattoos covered his pecs and shoulders, along with words in a language she couldn’t read across his chest. Scars littered his torso, taking up almost more area than normal skin. Long, short, wide and skinny scars crosshatched across his belly, torso, and arms, giving him a very distinct look she didn’t expect.
“M— Mister Albreight?” She stared down at her feet, face flushed red at the sight of his shirtless body.
He leaned against the door and doorframe with each hand and blearily gazed down at her. “Oh. Oh, Rhi. Yeah, what’s up?”
“I don’t know where school is, Mister Albreight.”
He stared blankly at her for a good ten seconds before slapping a hand to his forehead. “Right! Yes, school. Gods, yeah, let’s get you to school, young lady. Your mother’d be mighty sore if you missed out.”
She peeked back up as she saw him go back in, noticing an equal amount of scars across his back, along with more tattoos on his shoulder blades and down his spine. He threw on a basic tunic and walking shoes and sauntered out blearily. Down in the depot, he asked the attendant for a glass of ice water, received a cup of murky, ice-less water, sighed, and slammed it back, asking for another.
They walked as he sipped his water and glared at nothing in particular. “Does your head hurt too, like mummy’s?”
“Yeah, we were out too late. Drank too many adult drinks. Don’t do that.”
“Daddy drank too many adult drinks too.”
“Yeah, he does,” he said through clenched teeth. “We’re not like him, though. We drank them to have a good time. Your mum and I know each other from a long time back, you know.”
“Mummy said you had school together when you were my age.”
“How old are you?”
“Ninety-three turns.”
“How old you’ve gotten! Gods. No, we were a little older than you when we met. We were in the hundreds.”
“Was she your girlfriend?”
“What? No, only for, like, a week. Nah, we’re just good friends. We wrote letters back and forth for a long time. Told me all about you. She wanted so bad to send an illusion of you three when you were born so I could see you all, but they’re too expensive.”
“Like the kind Mrs. Bekar uses in class?”
“Yeah, exactly. I couldn’t be there; my job took me away before you were born.”
“You drove carriages since before I was born?”
He paused, and Rhia looked up at him. He was walking, staring forward, eyes unfocused and lost in thought. “Yeah. Long time.” He walked in silence for about a block before they got to the school.
“Okay, m’lady, here’s your stop. You remember how to get here?”
She nodded.
“Pretty easy, straight shot back to the depot. While you’re in school, your mum and I are gonna look for a house for you guys so hopefully, when you get off, we’ll be able to take you to your new home!”
“Mister Albreight?”
“Yes, Miss Irimot?” He dropped down into a squat, legs spread out and elbows on his knees, his brilliant amber eyes looking into hers. She looked away, down at her feet. “What’s wrong? You afraid the kids won’t like you?”
“They’re all weird.” She looked over at the yard at the kids playing outside the school, all of which were Milarics, bronze of skin, an extra set of eyes, and most with at least budding horns.
“No they’re not, they’re just different. This world has five intelligent species, Rhia. Five. Well, six. They’re all different, look different, talk different, but they’re all just people, like you and me. Heck, we’re in Milakria, where Milarics are all from. Here, you’re the weird kid without any horns and with only two eyes.” He rubbed her hair and she giggled a little. “Just treat them like normal kids and they’ll treat you normal.”
“But what if they don’t like me?”
“Then they’re dumb, ‘cause you are smart, beautiful, and just an absolute delight. They’ll love you, and you’ll love it. Now go on,” he beckoned as she saw a teacher calling the students in. “You gotta get to class.”
“Are you gonna be here when we’re done?”
“Yeah, I’ll be here. I’m not on— I can be here another few desses before I have to go.”
“Okay.” She hugged him, and he pulled her in close. “Thanks, Mister Albreight.”
“Of course, Miss Irimot. Anything for you.” He poked her nose, and she giggled, wiggled her nose, and sneezed
a little. “Now go have fun. You’re gonna be late.”
She ran off into the yard as Liam stood back up, groaned, and popped his back. He slammed back the rest of his water and rubbed his temples, muttering, “Note to self, never drink again.”
The school was, as she entered it, empty and very different from the school back home. The building, much like most buildings here so far, was made mostly from adobe with wood furnishings. There were a few doors down the hallway, along with small footlockers lining the walls. She slowly walked down the corridor, looking warily at the doors until a voice from behind startled her.
“You’re new.” She whirled around to see a little girl about her age. Her skin was a brilliant bronze and her eyes all held a stony grey. Her horns had grown to her shoulders and had already turned and started growing out.
“Hi, I’m—”
“Oh my gosh your eyes!” The girl was suddenly in her face, nose to nose staring into her eyes. Rhia backed away and looked down at her feet.
“Yeah, I know.”
“No, oh my gosh, they’re so pretty!”
Rhia looked back up with a raised eyebrow. Her father, Ilani, was Nojernan while her mother was a Northman, so she, naturally, looked like her mom but the skin of her dad showed in her eyes. “What d’ ye mean?”
“They’re like the night, but in your eyes! And the sun’s in the middle, but it ain’t bright, it’s all just burning and I can look at is and oh my gosh, they’re so pretty!”
“R— Really?”
“Why’re you all surprised like?” Her accent was similar to Liam’s, but fancier sounding. It had crisper syllables, but still rolled off her tongue smoothly.
“‘Cause most people make fun of ‘em, ‘cause they’re all weird.”
“Naw, they’re different and pretty! I mean, my eyes are all boring and grey, like rock. But you, you’re one of them Northmen, right?”
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