The Defeated, Part Eleven Translator's Note--The original manuscript was written in Galard. There are uncertainties about the meanings of some words, and poetic license has been taken in translating the poems and songs, in order to keep the spirit meant rather than the exact wording.

The Defeated, Part Eleven
translated by DawningStar

No more than two hours later, Cassandra was walking at a brisk pace away from the major spaceport city Kassinar, accompanied by Riae's long-time rival Visser Five, Tal, Lissi, who still bore the Yeerk quite a grudge, and whoever Lissi's human host was. She was rather overwhelmed by the whole thing. It could, of course, still be a trick, but she preferred to bury Riae's suspicious instincts and trust the people who were letting her escape.

I could tell them now, Cassandra mused as they passed the outskirts of the town. It was really rather small, housing only necessary technicians for the spaceport. Riae's surely safe by now. And even if Kyli isn't, it'd be too late for them to find her...

She felt guilty for having deceived them for so long. It had been almost fun, pretending in front of the Council of Thirteen, but with Lissi, Tal, and Sarim it was a different matter. Cassandra had almost begun to trust the two Yeerks, and she'd trusted Tal since she had met him in the cages. Besides that, she wanted to see their reactions.

I will tell them, she decided at last, glancing at her companions. "Stop for a second," she requested. "I, um, need to tell you something."

They did so, turning to look at her curiously. Lissi's face held a curious mixture of suspicion and anticipation that made Cassandra wonder if she'd already guessed.

Cassandra took a deep breath. "I'm not really Riae," she said quickly, before she could lose her nerve. "I'm not even a Yeerk. I'm just her host, Cassandra."

Lissi let out a whoop of laughter, barely muffled to avoid attracting attention. "I knew it!" she crowed. "I knew it! I told you so, Sarim!"

Amused, Cassandra looked to the Visser. He shrugged ruefully. "Fine, you were right," he agreed, then explained to Cassandra, "Lissi told me when she came out that first time that she thought you weren't Riae. She even conned me into betting on it."

"Well? Pay up!" Lissi demanded. With a put-upon sigh, Sarim handed over a small credchit of the sort used in minor transactions.

"What gave me away?" inquired Cassandra curiously. "I thought I'd done a fairly good job."

"Oh, you did," agreed Lissi, serious again. "It was just--you weren't scared enough. Riae, meeting me, knowing I had control of her fate, she'd have been terrified. You looked frightened, but more...resigned. More than that, you sounded so sincere. Riae's never been sincere in her life. Even when she does believe in something, she leaves you wondering." The Yeerk smiled tightly. "I've spent a long time studying her."

It wasn't hard to come up with a reason why. "Is that why you wanted to let me go, because you knew I wasn't her?"

"Only partly." Lissi looked down. "The other part--well, if you had been Riae, you'd changed so much I could hardly believe it. If you weren't, she'd obviously managed to get your loyalty and your friendship, and that was enough to make me curious. You knew what was planned for her, and for you, and you took her place anyway. And you're a Storyteller. I did make that promise."

Sarim snapped his fingers suddenly. "In the Pool! I thought there was something funny about your tripping like that--that was when she left, wasn't it? And you kept going like nothing had happened." He shook his head in admiration. "You might have pulled it off without anyone knowing if I hadn't brought Lissi in...still may. Where's Riae now?"

"She may be in the Village," Cassandra said doubtfully. It was hard to see Riae leaving the fight just yet. "More likely with the Villagers who've come outside." She wasn't going to correct Sarim's guess; it probably wouldn't make any difference, but she wanted to keep Kyli's secret.

Lissi let out a sigh. "Has she really changed--that much?" she asked suddenly of Cassandra.

The Storyteller considered. "From when you knew her...yes. She is a Storyteller now, you know, I taught her myself. And I think she understands the stories. It took me ages to convince her to let me take her place; it was my idea."

"I have to see her," Lissi muttered. "I have to know--" She turned away.

Tentatively, Cassandra reached out to touch the Controller's arm. Lissi didn't pull away. "It isn't far to the Village now," the human said softly.

"How do you know?" Sarim interrupted. "We've been walking for more than an hour and there's still no sign of your Village. I'm beginning to think this is..." He stopped.

Cassandra only grinned as she pointed him to the path which branched off a few feet ahead. Not only had it not been there a moment before, but it was covered in real, healthy flowers. "That," she told the two Yeerks, "is the way to the Village."

Lissi and Sarim shared a long look of wonder and bewilderment. Then they all stepped onto the path, and watched the road behind them vanish.


The Village, too, looked just as Cassandra had imagined it, though she'd usually visualized it at night and this was morning. Children scurried about more purposefully now; those who were still here weren't ready to reenter time yet, but they could still help from the Village.

A gray-speckled Naharan Cassandra recognized approached them. "Welcome to the Village," she said. "I'm Kliya. You'd be the Storyteller Cassandra? And Visser Five, and Lissi?"

They nodded in turn. Kliya twitched her whiskers in amusement at the Controllers' apparent surprise. "Karen is expecting you. She's returned to the Village to meet you all. Come with me."

Karen waited for them in the hut placed in the exact center of the village. The Time Matrix hung from a net in the ceiling above her, its surface a cloudy white, swirling gently. The human who'd featured in so many stories was no longer a child, but her bright green eyes were unchanged and clearly marked her identity.

The founder of the Village grinned at the visitors. "Welcome," she greeted them warmly. "Riae's told us a good deal about you, Cassandra. I must say I'm impressed."

"She's all right then?" Cassandra asked anxiously, "everyone made it?"

"Everyone is safe," Karen confirmed. "Riae is with the group at our drop point. We offered to let her stay here, but she said that you would want her to help as best she could, and that was with the adults. She'll be ecstatic to see you again--she's been horribly worried about you, you know. When the news of the trial came through we nearly gave you up for lost."

Cassandra nodded in relief. Everything was working out, then, even better than she had hoped.

Karen looked to Sarim next. "We don't get many visitors so high-ranked," she commented. "What are your intentions toward the Village?"

Visser Five shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know. At first I didn't really believe it existed. Now...well, I guess I'll do what I can to help you."

"And your host?"

"Tal?" Sarim said, faintly startled. "Of course he'll help. He's dreamed of seeing the Village even before he believed in it."

"That," Karen said rather dryly, "wasn't quite what I meant." But she turned to Lissi. "I know you want to see Riae. Do you still bear hatred toward her?"

"In other words, can you trust me not to try to kill her," Lissi interpreted with a wry smile. "I can't quite forgive her, but I won't harm her so long as she's working with you. Much as I hate to admit it, Cassandra's right; there are serious problems with the system. I'll help you to fix that before I settle any old grudges."

With a slight cough, Sarim interjected, "That rather begs the question: how exactly do you intend to 'fix things'? Somehow I doubt the Council of Thirteen will be amenable to your suggestions."

"You may be surprised," Karen murmured with an enigmatic smile, but she shook her head at further questions. "Sarim, Lissi, I must ask you to release your hosts for a few minutes. We have a Pool for you to feed in. They will be offered the choice of voluntarily hosting you or becoming Villagers themselves--or, I suppose, going with you to help out. No involuntary taking of hosts is permitted within the Village."

Sarim seemed unsurprised at this, but Lissi was a bit taken aback. "What if they choose not to let us re-infest them?" she demanded. "Do we just stay here?"

"Of course not," Karen assured her. "There are many Villagers who would be willing to host you. My word on it, you'll have a host within fifteen minutes."

Uneasily, Lissi nodded her assent. Karen promptly opened the door to a back room, where a small Yeerk Pool swirled with the movement of several Yeerks. Almost a dozen children were there, chatting easily while their temporary partners fed.

One of the children looked up and grinned at seeing Karen. "Newcomers?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Karen. "Two Yeerks, three humans. Can you get a couple of volunteers in case the hosts want to stay apart?"

"Of course." The boy turned and called, "Desi, Mark! Newcomers!"

The two called approached at once, a girl whose tilted eyes gave her a faintly roguish sort of beauty and a pale-skinned boy. "Good for you," Desi approved. "We don't get so many Yeerks anymore. Most of them just want to get back and forget about the Village. There are more of us who want partners than there are Yeerks to partner with."

"Why do you want to...partner?" Lissi asked curiously.

Desi shrugged. "It's kinda lonely, without someone. I got used to talking things over with my Yeerk, but she chose not to stay in the Village. Too...well...peaceful."

Rather nervously Sarim said, "This isn't permanent, is it?"

Mark laughed. "Of course not! Not unless we find out we get along well enough to want to make a symbiote pair--which isn't likely since it's your first time here. Go on, into the Pool. We need to talk to your hosts for a bit."

Lissi nodded shortly and moved toward the small Pool. Mark and Desi came up on either side, gently supporting. "So you don't fall in," Desi explained easily when the Yeerk seemed about to pull away. "One host did, scared everyone half to death and nearly drowned."

Apparently ignoring the two Villagers, Lissi leaned forward and released her host, slipping into the opaque liquid. The human woman staggered for an instant, caught her balance against the children, and looked about wonderingly.

"What's your name?" Desi asked her kindly.

There was an instant's silence as Lissi's host found her voice, then, "Cynda. My name is Cynda."

"Welcome to the Village, Cynda. You've heard the discussions; do you want to stay with Lissi?"

Cynda hesitated, cast a guilty look toward the pool and shook her head. "No. Lissi, she's nice enough, I suppose, but--no. I want to stay here. I've heard so much about it, dreamed so long...I want to be a Villager."

Desi smiled. "I understand. I felt the same way when I first arrived...Karen will take care of you. I'll host Lissi, then," she added to the others. "Once she's fed a bit more."

The red-haired adult looked kindly at Cynda. "You'll have to become a child--I suppose you know that? All right. Wait a moment, then, while we finish here, if you would. You're next, Visser."

Sarim glanced about, seeming to draw reassurance from the Villagers, and bent over the Pool. Tal's transition to independence was far smoother, catching his balance quickly and turning toward Cassandra. "You were right," he whispered to her, "you and Palanit, you were right all along..."

The Storyteller grinned. "I don't blame you for being a bit skeptical. I was myself for a while there."

"But are you going to host Sarim?" Mark interjected impatiently.

Tal nodded. "Yeah, I am. We've been together for--a long time. I think we'll both be more comfortable staying that way."

Mark sighed in disappointment. "Who knows how long it'll take before I get a partner," he mourned.

"Not long," Karen assured. "Not now that we've started. There'll be a good number of Yeerks wanting voluntary partners."

"Desi," Cynda put in hesitantly. "What if--I mean, Lissi's not used to sharing control..."

Desi grinned reassurance at the newly freed host. "I'm Village-trained, remember. She can't do much without my consent." With a glance at Karen, she inquired, "Has it been long enough?"

Karen nodded. Pulling her shoulder-length hair back, Desi knelt in front of the Pool. "Next project for the scientists: making a pool liquid that doesn't get your hair icky," she muttered distastefully, placing her ear just under the surface.

"Well, if you'd cut it--" Mark started.

"Shouldn't have to if you'd get your act together!" retorted Desi.

"Hey, we found a Kandrona substitute when you techs were stumped!"

"Did it matter?" Karen put in wryly.

"Well, no, but--"

"You have a Kandrona substitute?" a wide-eyed Cynda asked. "The Yeerks have been looking for ages and still don't have one!"

Mark snorted. "Those idiots couldn't cut their way out of a wet paper bag with a Dracon beam, they'd be too busy arguing over which one should use it. I should know, we used to work with them."

There was a gasp from Lissi/Desi, just standing up. "You were Kassim's host, weren't you?" the Yeerk demanded. "When he vanished, a good two thousand cycles ago now..."

The boy nodded, looking faintly embarrassed. "That was us."

Cassandra watched, amused. Kassim 107 had been considered the most gifted scientist in years before his abrupt disappearance seventeen years ago. It was still one of the Empire's great unsolved mysteries.

"Kassim got seriously annoyed that all his projects were commandeered for political power plays and he couldn't work on what he wanted to," Mark was explaining to Lissi. "And I'd heard about the Village. So we took a walk, found the path, and ended up here." He shrugged. "Kassim opted for going symbiote before I finished the Games. I kinda wish he'd waited for me, but we're both happier here."

Lissi just stared. There was a moment's silence.

"Tal, your turn," Karen said finally. "Once Sarim's back with us we can talk about what to do next."

The boy gave a short gesture of accord and headed for the Pool. A moment later he was back, Sarim flicking through memories from the rather distant look in their eyes.

Karen waited for the former Visser to finish, then said, "Who wants to stay here, then, and who's coming with us? Cynda, the Village for you?"

The host just nodded shyly, with a faint smile.

"Tal? Sarim?"

The pair blinked slowly. "We'll go. Can't leave Cassandra in the lurch," the speaker added, with a lopsided grin that was entirely Tal's.

"Lissi? Desi has agreed to stay with you for a while no matter which you choose."

"I know," the Yeerk acknowledged. "I'm going with you. Riae--well, I have to see her, at least."

Karen turned to Cassandra. "Not much need to ask, I suppose. You're coming?"

"Yeah," she agreed, smiling. "I can't wait to see Riae."

"And Mark--"

He sighed. "Right, stay here, I've heard it before. Too much work and I'm not partnered yet. Karen, you are way overprotective of us."

The adult looked faintly guilty. "How can I not be?" she asked softly. "I brought you all here. I'm putting you into danger. But it's your decision."

Mark grinned. "I was teasing, Karen. You're almost always right; why else would we listen to you? If you think I ought to stay, I will. Expect me to show up before too awfully long, though." He gave a confident wave and sauntered off to the other side of the room, where the other Villagers waited. Saying something that incited a wave of laughter, he led them out the far door.

Karen looked after the boy for a long moment, her expression indecipherable. At last she beckoned the group out into the Time Matrix's chamber.

The Naharan was waiting there. "Cynda, go with Kliya," Karen directed, with a glance at the Villager. "It's time for us to leave."

The door closed quietly behind the two. Cassandra didn't look after them, her attention focused on the ancient device above. Karen reached to lay a familiar hand on its smooth surface. "Everyone touch it. Try to keep your minds blank, and let me set the coordinates."

With each additional touch, the Time Matrix began to swirl in brighter colors, until everyone was ready. Then in an instant they had left the Village.

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