by J. Naomi Ay
“Well.” Dad gazed across the lake. “Look at those herons there. I just love to watch the herons out here on the lake.”
“Dad!”
“If you must know Katie, I told him to hurry up and come get you out of our house because you're driving your mother and me crazy.”
“Dad!” He thought this was funny.
“Your alien doctor agreed you have that effect on people.”
“Dad!”
“We both had a little chuckle about that. Seems like a decent enough fellow even if he is a little alien-ish.”
I was ready to pull my hair out. I sat down on the foredeck and hung my feet over the bow just as I did when I was kid. “So what's going to happen?” I called back to dad. “Is Senya coming over?” I looked to the house and wondered how my mother would react if Senya showed up right about now.
“Well,” Dad replied, yanking the cord on the outboard. Nothing happened. “I told him that it's nice you already got married but I would feel a whole bunch better if my friend Judge Joseph said a few words to you too in front of the rest of us.”
“And what did he say to that?”
“He was fine with that. In fact that gal that was with him was thrilled.”
“What gal?”
“Shelly from Tucson and her son, Tad or Thad or Ted or someone was with her too. He said he came so he could stand up and be your fellow's best man. Damn this motor!” Dad pulled the cord and the motor coughed and sputtered for a moment.
I start to laugh giddily, crazily. He loved me. He came all the way here because he loved me.
“So, is tomorrow too soon?” Dad asked. “Your fellow said something about reservations in Bora Bora. Guess you had better get yourself a nice bathing suit.”
“Tomorrow's fine,” I trilled. “Did he say where he was staying? Is he going to call me tonight?”
“I don't think so.” Dad played with the choke. “That fellow Ted said the two of them were going to take the opportunity to have a little bachelor party type thing.”
“What?”
“Ah, hush now. They're going to go watch the Seahawks lose to the Cardinals. Anyway, probably it would be best if you go sit with your mom and figure out what you're going to wear and work on the little party she wants to throw. She's going to invite her sister and your brother and his family, maybe her hairdresser and the butcher and a few of her other friends. Of course, I didn't bother to tell her you’re marrying an alien. I just told her, he was a doctor. She'll be a little surprised, I think. Tee hee. On the other hand, if I tell her what I discovered after I Lexis Nexis'd your guy, she may just about fall over dead.”
“Um, what did you find out?”
“Oh, nothing really important I guess. Just that he owns this little company that's worth a heck of a lot of money. Seems you've got enough shares in your own name to make you worth a heck of a lot too. Guess I don't need to worry about writing you a quick pre-nup. I figure any guy who's willing to give you his fortune without conditions either doesn't care a whit for money or loves you an awful lot.”
“Maybe both,” I said.
“Maybe both,” Dad agreed.
The next morning we met outside the judge’s office. Senya was there with Shelly and Thad. I pulled him into an empty office away from everyone before greeting the Mattsons. I didn’t even bother introducing him to my mom, who gasped loudly and stood with her hand over her mouth and enormous eyes. My dad chuckled. I slammed the door behind us and then leapt on Senya.
“Katie,” he said sternly, pushing me off.
“You came!” I cried.
“This is the only time,” he said, keeping me at arms-length. “If you run away again, I will not come after you.”
“I won't,” I swore. “I've missed you so much.”
“Katie,” he said again as if I were a child. “This is not a game. You need to be certain because once done, it cannot be undone. Divorcing a King is a lot more difficult than standing in front of judge and complaining that he is a dickhead.”
“Just promise me I won't end up like Anne Boelyn,” I said. “Or your cousin with the chandelier in her skull.”
“You will not but neither will it be easy. There is much you still do not know.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of this now?”
“No.” He shook his head. “But you need to see and realize what is in front of you. I do not want to scare you away again.”
“I can handle it. Whatever else you are going to throw at me, I can handle.”
“You can.” He nodded and touched my face. “I know you can.”
“Good, because I decided when I was nine that I was going to marry you and I mean to go through with it.”
His smiled and his eyes sparkled. “Shall we make it official for the third time then?”
“In a minute.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down to me.
“Come on you two.” Shelly pushed open the door. “Save that for afterward.”
During a quick ceremony in the judge’s office, Senya gave me a ring that not only looked like it belonged to the Mishnese Crown Jewels, it actually came from them. In fact, it was the ring worn by Mishka Kalila's Queen and had not been worn by anyone else for nearly a thousand years. Shelly was astounded by it and kept asking me to take it off and let her touch it.
My father gave me my grandfather's ring after we had come in off the sailboat and despite my mother's objections that our marriage would last only five minutes and this alien man would now have a family heirloom, I gave it to Senya.
We had a quick luncheon reception at a Chinese restaurant which Senya did not like and refused to eat but instead sat there smoking a cigarette which unfortunately did not help to endear him to my mother. Shelly sat next to her and pacified her by describing in great detail our house in Takira-hahr, the SdK Campuses and SdK's fleet of spaceplanes.
“Well at least we won't have to loan them any money,” I heard my mother say.
My father on the other hand, found Senya absolutely fascinating and the two of them got into a long detailed conversation about the law and constitutionalism.
Afterward, Senya and I took the SdK limo off to Bora Bora to honeymoon for a few days in an over the water hut. During that time we agreed that the subject of Rehnor would not be broached until it absolutely had to be. Nobody was to know about Senya beyond Shelly and Thad and nobody was to mention a word of it to Admiral Tim or Spaceforce Command. Senya would also abstain from drugs and copious amounts of alcohol and he would do his best not to kill people or break things. I agreed to be a dutiful wife, not nag too much, and have a minimum of headaches which suited me fine.
“What are you doing?” It was 2AM. I wasn't sure where I was for a moment.
“I am going outside.”
“Now?” I was in Takira-hahr, in our house, in our bed. “It's the middle of the night.”
“I need to go now.”
“Why?”
He was out on the deck.
“Senya? What's the matter?” I rooted around for my bathrobe.
“I will be back soon. Well, maybe a few hours. Go back to sleep.”
He was gone. Just like that. Vaporized or something. I found my bathrobe and raced across the room to the French doors. There wasn’t a trace of him. He didn't jump down onto the grass, he wasn’t climbing down the support posts and he certainly wasn’t flying through the air like Superman. There was an eagle overhead though, a big one. It was circling above the bay and then in an instant dropped down, skimmed along the water and took flight again with a large fish in its talons. It headed up in the direction of the forest.
“He's so strange,” I said to no one at all and then tried to get back to sleep.
I couldn’t sleep. I was in the wrong time zone and bothered by his abrupt departure. We had been home for only a couple of days.
“Pisses me off,” I said again to no one.
Things had been going so well. It was almost like it was when we
were kids. The big evil prince dude that I had met on Rehnor was gone and now he was just Senya again, smiling shyly, beating me in chess, praising me lavishly for every meal I made for him as if I were the greatest chef in the Universe even if it was nothing more than fried eggs. I loved him with every bone in my body, with every breath that I took. My heart would race every time I saw him. I never wanted this time, this moment in space to end.
Now for sure I couldn’t sleep. At this point, I went out on the deck and waited for the sunrise. It was beautiful out there with the sky gradually lightening and the calm pink bay reflecting the orange and red dawn.
Just after 4AM, Senya came walking up the beach. I leaned against the railing and watched him. He knew I was there because he turned his silver eyes up to me as if he was watching me too. I waved. He lifted his arms as if to wave back but in the blink of eye he was gone. A bird, an eagle was lifting into the air and heading straight for me. I was frozen in place as this creature with enormous wings swooped down toward the deck and then the beast was gone and it was only Senya crouching there.
“Tell me I didn't just see that,” I said, gasping for breath and holding my chest to quiet my pounding heart.
He held out his hand and there were feathers in it, long black flight feathers.
“No way. No way!” I cried. “Don't tell me this. This is beyond possible. Telekinesis, telepathy, even tripping through dimensions I can somewhat understand but not this. This is a complete molecular transformation.”
“Very good,” he nodded. “Except for my toenails and my incisors. I do not know why I cannot get them to change.” He ran a finger along a pointed, fang like tooth.
“You're so damn weird.” Now I was furious for no rational reason. “What are you, like a Werewolf except a Werebird?”
“I am not just a bird, I eat birds.” He lay down on a chaise and pulling up a foot, rubbed his talon like toenails. “Therefore, I am a raptor.”
“How the hell can you do that? Why do you do it? Wait.” I held up my hand. “I know. I know. It's complicated. It's not for me to understand. Tell me there are no more secrets I need to know about. I don't think I can take anymore.”
He laughed and held out his arms. “Come here.”
“No. No. This is totally blowing my mind. You should have come with a user's manual. Turn to chapter twenty-two to learn what to do when your husband decides to turn into an eagle and go kill things.”
“Just wait until you get to the appendices,” he said. “Come here.”
“Why?” I demanded. “Why should I come there? So I can make you feel like a man again? You're done being a raptor and now you want to use your man part again?”
He nodded. “Good idea. Come here.”
“God,” I sighed. “How did I get mixed up with you?”
Never the less, I walked over to the chaise and lay down in his arms and let his man part do its thing because despite all this weirdness, he was still just that boy Senya and I loved him.
“What does it feel like to fly?”
“It is incredible,” he said, pulling me on top of him. “Better than anything except...”
“Except what?”
“Except this.”
Chapter 19
Berkan
“I'm going to Rozari,” my father announced, dropping unexpectedly by my house. He held baby Marik for a moment. “Come with me, Berkan.”
Luci and I exchanged glances.
“Why are you going?” I asked hesitantly, although I had a suspicion. “Why do you need me?”
“I don't need you,” my father replied loudly, shocking poor little Marik who let out a wail. Quickly Luci rescued him. “I would like you to come. Your presence may...”
“Go Berkie,” Luci urged. “If your presence will make whatever news he has to deliver easier, than you must go.”
“Alright,” I agreed and packed my overnight kit. I ordered an SdK spaceplane readied and we left right away.
“I think you want me to come because you like traveling in our spaceplanes better than the government planes,” I told my father once we are aboard and gazing at the dinner menu presented by the attendant. He laughed and agreed heartily.
Half a day later, we were in Rozari where the afternoon sun was already setting and Takira-hahr was turning to dusk. I had never been to the estate before. I had been to the campus in Kalika-hahr and I had stayed in the guest suites there. Our visit was unannounced and my father did not believe we would stay through the night.
We circled the estate while the pilot requested permission to land on the runaway cleared from meadowland surrounded by forest. It was a short walk to the main house which sat high on a bluff overlooking the calm Rozarian sea. It was a beautiful house of white washed stone, covered porches, window boxes teeming with tropical flowers and a red tile roof which had a retractable glass ceiling over the central courtyard.
My father rang the bell at the front door and for a while we waited. Eventually there were footsteps crossing the hall and Senya opened the door. His hair was disheveled and he was dressed only in pajama bottoms.
My father cleared his throat.
“Did we wake you?” I asked with a snicker. “At 5pm?”
Senya didn’t respond, just stood aside for my father and myself to enter.
“Sir,” my father said, but did not bow.
“Sir,” I said too.
Senya glared at me.
We walked across the courtyard. Katie watched us from a third floor balcony and then came running down the marble staircase. She was dressed in a gold silk bed robe. Senya led us into a room with leather sofas, a fireplace, an enormous vid on the wall and panoramic windows that looked out upon the ocean.
“Would you like coffee, tea?” Katie asked, holding the front of her robe closed.
“No, they want nothing,” Senya replied and then ordered us to sit.
“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Katie asked.
“No,” Senya said again and pointed at the couch across from us for Katie to sit as well.
My father took a Royal writ from his attaché and placed it on the table between us. I looked at it. Katie looked at it. Senya lit a cigarette and turned his face to the windows.
“What does it say?” Katie asked, picking it up and touching the ink, the gold leaf embossing.
“I'll read it,” I offered and took it from her. The front of her robe gaped a little. I saw the soft white curve of her breast. I stared at it a moment too long.
“Go get some clothes on!” Senya ordered.
“I'll be right back,” Katie said and scurried from the room.
I set the writ back down on the table. Senya smoked. My father gazed out the windows. I looked around the room. It was a nice room. I imagined with a fire in the fireplace it would be very comfortable in here. I checked my cell. I had a few messages. I read them and then sent a text to Thad telling him I was in town. Perhaps he could meet with me tomorrow morning for a few hours. Katie came back in a t-shirt and jeans.
“Read it please,” she said and handed the writ back to me.
“It says,” I cleared my throat and translated. “Be it known to all that on this day it is hereby declared that Sehron de Kudisha, MaKennah ka Rehnor, Crown Prince of Mishnah, Crown Prince of Karupatani, Duke of the Light Continent and Duke of the Dark Continent, Duke of the Mother and Child Moons, is prohibited from returning to the planet Rehnor until such time as jointly seen fit by His Majesty the King of Mishnah and His Majesty the King of Karupatani.
We make this pronouncement with heavy heart and great distress for the actions wrought upon the people of Mishnah by the MaKennah cannot be forgiven nor ignored. Until such time as the MaKennah can temper his anger and control the forces within him that cause such destruction, he is to be under penalty of banishment. Further, he shall forfeit the receipts of the Privy Purse associated with the lands and estates of the duchies and principalities associated with his titles.
Written and ins
cribed this day by my hand. Signed Yokaa Kalila, King of Mishnah and Merakoma de Kudisha, King of Karupatani.”
I set the writ back down on the table. My father reached for it, presumably to put it back in his attaché but it flamed up on the table and burned. My father quickly drew his hand back.
“That was not necessary,” Katie snapped and extinguished the fire with water from a flower vase on a neighboring table. Now the coffee table was covered in a wet, gray, ashy mess. Katie stood up in a huff and left to get a cloth to clean up.
“So, I can just come here for the time being,” I offered. “Or you can send Thad. You haven't had too much need to visit our facilities anyway, right?”
Senya smoked his cigarette and gazed blindly out the window.
“I don't know what you are upset about.” Katie returned and cleaned up the mess. “I think this is wonderful. May you forever be banished in my mind.”
“I think it will be rescinded eventually,” my father said. “They are both quite angry now but they will calm down and come to reason.”
“It's not like there is an alternative,” I pointed out.
“Well, there is Akan and Sorkan,” Katie said. “So let them deal with it.”
“Loman,” Senya said at last. “You go back and tell the both of them this. They are to rescind this writ immediately or I will pull my company out of Mishnah. I will not open the four hundred hospitals I had planned to open nor will I employ the two hundred thousand people I had planned to employ. I will cancel all further projects including my intent to hire an additional fifty thousand people for a spacebased development project that was to begin in two year’s time. The Mishnese treasury will be bereft of nearly a billion dollars in tax money that I and my employees would have paid. Further, I will release into the economy more than fourteen trillion Mishnese dollars which I currently own. Akan and through his ignorance, Yokaa Kalila, and the corrupt and incompetent Parliament, have attempted to keep the economy of the planet afloat by unceasingly printing money which would have become utterly worthless had I not stepped in and bought up all these valueless notes. Mishnah will find herself with such an overwhelming deficit that the value of your dollar will plummet again to the point where it will take a speeder full of coins to pay for a loaf of bread. Akan, Yokaa, and the Parliament will all find themselves with their heads on pikes in front of the Palace should you allow this to happen.”
