I remembered waiting, seemingly endless waiting, waiting for the right ingredients to be synthesized, measured, mixed correctly.
I remembered times when Alix had to sedate me just to get me to go to sleep.
I remembered fourteen festivals, thirteen birthdays, seven for Silla, six for me, and six anniversaries, all without Silla.
I don't think I realized how much I missed her until I got her back.
And now here she was, asleep in my arms, the same as always.
As if the past seven years never happened, and for her, they never really had.
She stirred, murmuring softly in her sleep.
She was dreaming, that much I knew, I'd been watching her eyes flicker beneath the lids for a while now.
She turned slightly, brow furrowing, murmuring again, her dream apparently becoming more intense.
I reached up, running my fingertips along her brow gently. Kyzè, the Station's psychologist once told me never to startle Silla awake from a nightmare, just to bring her out of it as slowly and gently as possible.
She relaxed slightly, falling still again. I ran my fingers slowly down her arm.
Moments later she snapped awake, gasping sharply.
I continued stroking her arm, "It's alright Sil, was just a dream." I could feel her heart racing in the pulse point at her elbow.
She blinked, then sighed, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, "Dream. Right. Just a dream."
I nodded, fingertips rubbing a slow circle against her temple, "What was it Sil?"
She shook her head slightly, eyes still closed, "Bird. Shiny, oilslick black. Huge."
"How big?" I asked, concerned.
She shook her head slightly again, "Wasn't actually big, just magnified."
I nodded, watching her face, "Well, it's morning, the birds are probably out and about in the Aviary if you want to see if you can spot it."
The Aviary was one of Riish Alosha's inventions, much like a regular HoloZoo, but with an encyclopedic database of folklore and legend for each bird.
Alosha was not only expanding the Aviary almost daily, but was working on a Zoo as well.
But that's what the Riish did, catalogued everything. They were the galaxy's librarians and record keepers.
Silla nodded, rubbing her eyes, "I think I will, when's our first meeting today?"
I shook my head, stretching and yawning, "Mm, about an hour, it's a talk show, HoloNet, so it'll be alright if we're a little late."
Silla slipped out of bed, nodding again. She showered and dressed in a matter of minutes, then dried and braided her hair while she waited for me to finish.
The Aviary was its usual cacophony of sound and kaleidoscope of color.
Every single bird was presented at one sixteenth life size. Except in cases where that would render them invisible, or near-invisible to the naked eye.
Bumblebee Hummingbirds for instance were only a quarter size, and Lerunian Fyeyes were two thirds size.
Silla stood in the middle of the room, eyes half closed, listening for her mystery bird.
Her voice was low, but as long as the commands were there, the computer was designed to pick them up, no matter the volume.
"Filter by color, I want to see only the birds with black feathers and beaks."
The room seemed to shiver a moment, all the vibrant jeweltoned birds melting into the background, camouflaging themselves, leaving only a monochrome array of various sized birds, a thousand at least.
Silla nodded, 'Now filter by sound, remove all the songbirds." That cut the crowd by half. I crossed the grass, just being present behind her.
After a few more filtrations she had pared the group down to a couple dozen. She sat cross-legged on the grass, the eccentric flock of birds in front of her, ruffling feathers and watching her.
She regarded each of them as if she were trying to see through them, "Filter again, take out any that don't have Death legends attributed to them."
That left seven birds, I draped an arm around her shoulders, "Why Death legends?"
She shook her head, "Just a feeling"
I nodded, I'd learned long ago to trust Silla's intuitions.
She sighed, watching the remaining birds. They watched her right back. She sighed again, waving a hand at them. They all reacted as any bird would, they took flight, startled.
All but one. It merely hopped backwards, and tilted its head, letting out a raucous cry.
Silla blinked, then smiled, "That's the one. Bring it up to full size."
The bird rippled, growing to about a foot tall, beak to the floor.
It cawed again, tilting its head, regarding us coolly with one dark glittering eye, shifting from foot to foot like an anxious child.
Silla smiled again, "Filters off, tell me about this one."
Riish Alosha's pleasant, lilting voice chimed in as the rest of the birds came back into view, "Corvus brachyrhynchos, the Common Crow. Planet of Origin: Earth. Crows survived the first two plagues, and it's believed that remnants survived all the way through to the fourth, long after the planet was rendered uninhabitable to human life."
There was a brief pause in case we wanted to ask any questions.
Silla relaxed slightly, eyes closed, listening.
Riish Alosha's disembodied voice continued, "People once believed that when a person." The voice was suddenly replaced by Kyzè's, "There you two are, you're ten minutes late, Alix is stalling the best she can, but you'd better hurry."
I nodded, helping Silla up, "We're on our way"
Silla took her Infodex out of a pocket and pointed it at the crow, creating a direct link to all the information in the Aviary's database about it..
She'd read it, bit by bit, a little at a time between meetings, Silla never skimmed anything, she always read it all the way through.
It took us less than a minute to get to the conference room, the focus was on Kyzè at the moment. "what did you tell them?" I mouthed, as Silla and I settled.
Alix smiled, making a very descriptive hand gesture.
Silla snorted, I tried my hardest not to laugh as I draped an arm around her shoulders, "Good old Alix, always covering for us."
Kyzè finished his speech with a smirk and an "Ahh, here they are now."
The focus shifted and the host smiled, "We were wondering if you were going to show up."
Silla managed to blush, something she usually only did when she was angry or startled.
I smiled, glancing at her as she buried her face in my shoulder, then I smiled at the host, "Well, it has been seven years you know, and last night was our anniversary after all."
The host smiled again, "Awww, and how long have the two of you been married then?"
"Eight years"
Silla arched a brow slightly, "Not counting the years that I was in the deep freeze of course."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I remembered times when Alix had to sedate me just to get me to go to sleep.
I remembered fourteen festivals, thirteen birthdays, seven for Silla, six for me, and six anniversaries, all without Silla.
I don't think I realized how much I missed her until I got her back.
And now here she was, asleep in my arms, the same as always.
As if the past seven years never happened, and for her, they never really had.
She stirred, murmuring softly in her sleep.
She was dreaming, that much I knew, I'd been watching her eyes flicker beneath the lids for a while now.
She turned slightly, brow furrowing, murmuring again, her dream apparently becoming more intense.
I reached up, running my fingertips along her brow gently. Kyzè, the Station's psychologist once told me never to startle Silla awake from a nightmare, just to bring her out of it as slowly and gently as possible.
She relaxed slightly, falling still again. I ran my fingers slowly down her arm.
Moments later she snapped awake, gasping sharply.
I continued stroking her arm, "It's alright Sil, was just a dream." I could feel her heart racing in the pulse point at her elbow.
She blinked, then sighed, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, "Dream. Right. Just a dream."
I nodded, fingertips rubbing a slow circle against her temple, "What was it Sil?"
She shook her head slightly, eyes still closed, "Bird. Shiny, oilslick black. Huge."
"How big?" I asked, concerned.
She shook her head slightly again, "Wasn't actually big, just magnified."
I nodded, watching her face, "Well, it's morning, the birds are probably out and about in the Aviary if you want to see if you can spot it."
The Aviary was one of Riish Alosha's inventions, much like a regular HoloZoo, but with an encyclopedic database of folklore and legend for each bird.
Alosha was not only expanding the Aviary almost daily, but was working on a Zoo as well.
But that's what the Riish did, catalogued everything. They were the galaxy's librarians and record keepers.
Silla nodded, rubbing her eyes, "I think I will, when's our first meeting today?"
I shook my head, stretching and yawning, "Mm, about an hour, it's a talk show, HoloNet, so it'll be alright if we're a little late."
Silla slipped out of bed, nodding again. She showered and dressed in a matter of minutes, then dried and braided her hair while she waited for me to finish.
The Aviary was its usual cacophony of sound and kaleidoscope of color.
Every single bird was presented at one sixteenth life size. Except in cases where that would render them invisible, or near-invisible to the naked eye.
Bumblebee Hummingbirds for instance were only a quarter size, and Lerunian Fyeyes were two thirds size.
Silla stood in the middle of the room, eyes half closed, listening for her mystery bird.
Her voice was low, but as long as the commands were there, the computer was designed to pick them up, no matter the volume.
"Filter by color, I want to see only the birds with black feathers and beaks."
The room seemed to shiver a moment, all the vibrant jeweltoned birds melting into the background, camouflaging themselves, leaving only a monochrome array of various sized birds, a thousand at least.
Silla nodded, 'Now filter by sound, remove all the songbirds." That cut the crowd by half. I crossed the grass, just being present behind her.
After a few more filtrations she had pared the group down to a couple dozen. She sat cross-legged on the grass, the eccentric flock of birds in front of her, ruffling feathers and watching her.
She regarded each of them as if she were trying to see through them, "Filter again, take out any that don't have Death legends attributed to them."
That left seven birds, I draped an arm around her shoulders, "Why Death legends?"
She shook her head, "Just a feeling"
I nodded, I'd learned long ago to trust Silla's intuitions.
She sighed, watching the remaining birds. They watched her right back. She sighed again, waving a hand at them. They all reacted as any bird would, they took flight, startled.
All but one. It merely hopped backwards, and tilted its head, letting out a raucous cry.
Silla blinked, then smiled, "That's the one. Bring it up to full size."
The bird rippled, growing to about a foot tall, beak to the floor.
It cawed again, tilting its head, regarding us coolly with one dark glittering eye, shifting from foot to foot like an anxious child.
Silla smiled again, "Filters off, tell me about this one."
Riish Alosha's pleasant, lilting voice chimed in as the rest of the birds came back into view, "Corvus brachyrhynchos, the Common Crow. Planet of Origin: Earth. Crows survived the first two plagues, and it's believed that remnants survived all the way through to the fourth, long after the planet was rendered uninhabitable to human life."
There was a brief pause in case we wanted to ask any questions.
Silla relaxed slightly, eyes closed, listening.
Riish Alosha's disembodied voice continued, "People once believed that when a person." The voice was suddenly replaced by Kyzè's, "There you two are, you're ten minutes late, Alix is stalling the best she can, but you'd better hurry."
I nodded, helping Silla up, "We're on our way"
Silla took her Infodex out of a pocket and pointed it at the crow, creating a direct link to all the information in the Aviary's database about it..
She'd read it, bit by bit, a little at a time between meetings, Silla never skimmed anything, she always read it all the way through.
It took us less than a minute to get to the conference room, the focus was on Kyzè at the moment. "what did you tell them?" I mouthed, as Silla and I settled.
Alix smiled, making a very descriptive hand gesture.
Silla snorted, I tried my hardest not to laugh as I draped an arm around her shoulders, "Good old Alix, always covering for us."
Kyzè finished his speech with a smirk and an "Ahh, here they are now."
The focus shifted and the host smiled, "We were wondering if you were going to show up."
Silla managed to blush, something she usually only did when she was angry or startled.
I smiled, glancing at her as she buried her face in my shoulder, then I smiled at the host, "Well, it has been seven years you know, and last night was our anniversary after all."
The host smiled again, "Awww, and how long have the two of you been married then?"
"Eight years"
Silla arched a brow slightly, "Not counting the years that I was in the deep freeze of course."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~