"Well, Tom, it's definitely not what we here in Louisiana are used. Looks like it's a dry summer for us!" The newswoman flashed her bubbly, toothy smile at the camera. Just a few minutes ago, the camera's focus was on the weatherman who'd predicted at least another week of low humidity. It meant that the Atrians would be miserable for at least another week.
As the woman on the tv screen continued to smile and talk in her effervescent voice about whatever was happening with the humans in the town of Edendale, Drake decided that he didn't like that human woman. Her smile was just as forced as all of the smiles his mother had given since the Crash, but this woman didn't have the excuse of being blamed for the death of her husband and so many of others. She didn't have the excuse of crossing the galaxies for a fresh start only to end up confined by a species that despised her. She didn't have to live with the Crash.
The Crash. He had to remember that they were supposed to call it "Arrival day." Still, most Atrians continued to call it "the Crash" when they spoke Sondiv.
Pouring water shifted his attention to Sophia refilling the boiling pot In the kitchen area. Drake sighed, wishing they could go outside to dance in the spray of the hydrants, but they couldn't. As dry as it was, they were given restrictions to conserve water. Some said that humans weren't too happy about it because it meant they couldn't water the yard plants, the ones they called grass. No, Atrians were allowed to turn on the hydrants before the sun came up and after the sun went down for only fifteen minutes at a time.
Drake rolled onto his back and groaned at having to stay indoors. Never the type of child to stay in one place for very long, he was desperate to go out and play.
It wasn't fair. Edendale had always been comfortably humid like the rest of Louisiana, but unusually dry weather had settled into the state for almost a month into the summer. The air caused the Atrians' skin to dry in minutes outside, and the Louisiana sun, without the protection of moisture, did things to Drake's people, ugly things.
Sophia walked away from the stove and turned the knob on the tv to a different channel. A bunch of human children filled the screen and started talking about school and friends and dates, and Drake groaned again. "Do we have to watch that crap?"
There was a hard smack at the back of his head, and he turned to see Teri glaring at him with that look, the one that said he wasn't thinking of others' feelings. When he looked back at Sophia, her eyes were glistening with forming tears and her lip stuck out just a little.
"I like this show," she said to him softly, using as much of her strength to hold back those tears. He felt awful. Sure, it was easy to give Roman and Teri a hard time, they could give as good as they got, but Sophia was a sensitive soul. Her feelings were always out there for everyone to see and for anyone to hurt.
"I'm sorry," was all he could think to say. If he were Teri, he would have found some gesture to ease the apology in, or if he were Roman, he would have found the right words to soothe her bruised emotions, but Drake was Drake. If he couldn't pummel his way out of something, it confused him. So his simple apology was all anyone could hope for.
Fortunately, it was enough. Sophia smiled widely even as a tear managed to break free. It rolled over the marking on her cheek, and the dark patch of skin started to glow from the moisture. Just then, without any warning, she grabbed him into a big hug; Sophia was prone to do that.
Tensions settled down again, and Sophia released him just as the last commercial ended and her show began again. She seemed in a trance as she watched the humans speak loudly and look silly and do dumb things, and Drake couldn't understand her interest in them.
Drake groaned again as he laid on the floor and turned to Roman and Teri who were laying close together. They were always close together. Sometimes, though, Drake had the feeling that it was more her wish than his to be so close.
"Want to go to the House of Cards?" he asked them both, just hoping for a change in environment, hoping they were willing to do something other than lay around in a pod watching humans on tv.
Teri shook her head and eyed Roman. Roman turned to Drake and shrugged to tell him he didn't care, but Drake knew what was really happening. Teri wanted to stay close to Roman, and Roman didn't want to side against her and start a fight. "We should stay here with Sophia and keep the pot boiling," Roman finally said, and it brought a grin to Teri's face.
"If we leave, you won't have to boil the pot," he countered, but the look on Teri's face told him all he needed to know. She wasn't going to budge and Roman, ever the peacemaker, was going to avoid a fight for as long as he could. With a disgusted grunt, Drake got up to go. If staying in Roman's pod meant he would have to watch humans on the tv and Teri curl up beside Roman with the goofy look on her face, he might as well go home and watch his own pot of water boil.
Just as he made it to the door, the Iksen opened it and stepped into the pod. His skin looked dry and wrinkled, and Drake wondered how long he'd been outside for it to effect him so badly. Regardless, he greeted the man with a warm, "Yakson, Iksen!"
The man's browns dipped down and his lips pressed together in disapproval, Drake corrected himself. "Hello…hi."
He often forgot the Iksen's rule that only English was to be spoken in his pod. Roman's mother, Maya, didn't feel as passionately about it, but she agreed to the rule because it was so important to him. Although, most times she wouldn't enforce it unless he was home, and Drake's mother didn't care which language he spoke.
"Hi, Drake. How's your mother?"
"She's well," Drake answered. It was the best answer he could think to give. The common response was "fine," but his mother wasn't fine. She hadn't been fine since the cra…Arrival Day.
"Good." The Iksen smiled and walked to the back rooms of the pod.
"Bye," he gave a goodbye nod to Roman, Teri, and Sophia, or whoever happened to be paying attention before leaving the pod and having a blast of hot, dry air hit him like a wall he'd walked into. He closed the door quickly so that he wouldn't let any more of the built-up moisture inside the pod out, but he started to wonder if he'd made a mistake leaving. It felt so comfortable inside.
But he was already out and had to trod along the walkways and stairs, feeling his muscles weaken and his skin tighten so badly that they were starting to ache and crack with each movement. When he made it to the door of his pod, he smiled to himself while placing his key in the lock, imagining how beautifully humid it would be inside, just like Roman's pod.
It wasn't.
His mother wasn't home, and so there was no pot of boiling water and no humidity to soothe his skin and aching muscles.
If only they could have one of those humidifiers that they'd heard humans had, machines that sprayed water into the air, but the Iksen was told that it would be too expensive to buy each family a humidifier. They were told it was better and cheaper to boil water.
It may have been cheaper, but it wasn't better. Someone had to be there to watch that the pot didn't boil dry. Not to mention they couldn't use the central air conditioners to cool their pods because it would only make their air drier, and the added heat from boiling water already made the temperature uncomfortable. Although it still wasn't as uncomfortable as the dry air.
Quickly, he took the biggest pot he and his mother had and filled it with water before sliding it onto the stove top. It couldn't boil fast enough, but when it finally did, Drake hovered over it for the blast of steam that came up in waves. He didn't care that his face felt like it was going to burn off or that the marking on his face lit up like those Christmas trees he saw on tv. The moisture was welcome all the same.
Outside the door to his pod, he heard voices and one of them was his mother.
He pressed his ear to the door to hear them a little better. Having finally boiled the water and what precious little moisture had accumulated, he decided not to open the door and find out who she was talking to and why they were talking outside.
As far as he could hear with his ear pressed to the door, she was upset about something, or maybe she was upset with the person she was talking to. He couldn't tell. Their voices raised once more before the lock clicked open.
Drake jumped back just as his mother opened the door. There was a puzzled look on her weathered face, trying to figure something out as she looked at him. As she closed the door, just before it closed fully, Drake glimpsed the Iksen's brother walking away.
"How long have you been here?" she asked him, her eyes darting towards the pot on the stove.
"Just got back and started the water," he said with a bright smile, trying to prove to her that he could manage on his own, that he was older and didn't need his mother helping him with every little thing.
Whatever had made her angry melted away as she cupped her hand along the side of his face. "Good, because this pod could use some moisture," she said while giving him one of those not so happy smiles.
He was dreaming of Atria, of his home with his father still alive and his mother smiling brightly. It was one of her true smiles and even in his dream he felt content to finally see it it again.
If only it could have lasted a little bit longer, but there was a pounding at the door to their pod. By the time Drake and his mother reached the front area, the door burst open and SEU guards poured through with their guns raised. "Saroya! Hands up!"
His mother was as confused as he was, but she obediently raised her hands above her head and let one of the guards slide in back of her. The human man took his mother's wrists and restrained them before pushing her towards the door.
Drake was paralyzed with fear and confusion, but when he saw his mother being pushed away, that they were taking her away from him, he rushed at the guard that held his mother's wrists and started to punch and kick. Another guard separated from the others and held Drake's arms back, pinning then with one arm while the other wrapped around his throat. But the guard didn't have enough arms to keep him from screaming.
"Mother!"
"Drake, no!" his mother yelled, straining against the hold of her guard, and Drake barely heard her over his own voice.
"Direhik," she pleaded with him to calm down, and when he reluctantly did, she tried to give him one of her true smiles to reassure him. She couldn't do it, so she tried to calm him with words. "You are my brave warrior." Her words to him were gentle and emotional and telling him to be strong. They were suppose to prepare him for a life without her, but he didn't want to be brave if it meant being without her, so he continued to struggle against the guard holding him while they hauled his mother out of the pod.
When most of the guards left, the elder of the Vwasak tribe stepped in and nodded to the guard holding Drake who then released him and walked out of the pod as well. Drake was ready to side-step the elder, rush out of the pod to get his mother back, but the elder was quicker than expected. The man anticipated every move he made for the door until Drake eyed him for a weakness.
"You'll find no weakness in me, boy. There's a reason I've been chosen elder of the Vwasak."
"But my mother!"
"You mother has done something unforgivable and must be punished for it."
Drake didn't know if the elder was talking about whatever it was the guards took her away for, or if he was talking about the Crash. It was always a question when his people spoke of his mother.
"We will make things better for you. We will find a family for you to stay with until you come of age and—"
"No!" Drake yelled as loudly as his lungs could manage with his fists balled and his eyes hard on the elder. "It won't be better and I won't stay with a family. I want my mother back!"
All he had left was his mother, and they took that away from him. There was nothing they could say or do to make it better other than bring her back to him. He didn't care what she did; she was his mother. And without her, he was all alone
For anyone who didn't catch it in the show, Saroya was crated 2 years after the crash which puts Drake at about 8 yo.
