A Wider World

When Ben awoke the next morning he was, to his surprise, both alone and in a quiet house. He lay still for a while, enjoying the peace. He cared very much for the Kheelians already, but they could be quite exhausting. Physically, he felt better this morning than he could remember. Much of the pain from the bruises, burns and from his leg had noticeably lessened. His ribs were still painful if he tried to take too deep a breath, but the intercostals didn't ache as much as they had. His body was definitely improved for the fluids and food and rest that had been forced on it. But as for the remainder of him… well, he felt restless, uncomfortable in his own skin. Anxious almost. His head ached, a throbbing pain deep in his temples. Now he was awake, he was surprised he had been able to sleep at all. He needed to get up and do something, anything, to take his mind off the swirl of chaotic feeling in his head. It was as if all of the emotion he had felt in his short memory; fear, gratitude, panic, delight, doubt; were all clamouring for his attention and he couldn't find anyway to release them.

Ben decided he might as well give up on sleep entirely. As he started to climb out of bed, he suddenly realised his shirt was wet. Puzzled, he pulled it away from his neck and saw there was drying blood all down the front. What the blazes…?

He limped over to the duralumin pan he had been using as a mirror, and peered at his own face. There was blood crusted round his nose, mouth and beard. His nose must have been bleeding in his sleep. He frowned. That couldn't be normal.

Ben peered out round the main door into the dark and shadowy living area of the house. There was no sight of anyone around, and barely any light illuminated the translucent dome of the roof. It must be very early. Keen not to disturb anyone, Ben collected the spare shirt Shaarm had given him and quietly shuffled across the house to the wash room, his staff tapping loudly on the stone floor. It took him a while to figure out the 'fresher, as the controls were designed for someone twice as tall as him, and with half as many fingers. The 'fresher turned out to be sonic rather than water, but was better than he could have hoped for. He even managed to wash his hair. Afterwards, Ben attempted to rinse the blood from his shirt in the sink, although it took rather longer that he had hoped with his broken hand. He hung the wet shirt off a rail in the corner to drip.

Clean, dressed and now very awake, Ben knew he could not face going back in to his own room. Instead he began to explore the living area of the house. Some of the artworks on the walls were clearly done by the children, but there were other paintings which must have been Chana's works. They were colourful, textured and wildly abstract, but he found them to be well composed and soothing. The shelving units contained an odd mixture of electronic items, tools, toys and old fashioned bound books. He was curious, but didn't touch them. Handling real paper books without asking seemed wildly indecorous.

Ooouli's datapads were still scattered across the floor from last night, and for something to do, Ben took a seat on a cushion on the floor, and switched one on. The Kheelian written language was like nothing he had ever seen before, and didn't seem much chance he could understand it. The diagrams on the page were familiar however, and he knew they related to the principles of repulsor physics. He was reminded of the conversation they had been having yesterday; he had the knowledge of the subject at his fingertips once he was prompted, but could not have said how or why he knew it. Just thinking about that made his headache worse.

The second datapad he reached for was exactly what he had been hoping to find. Ooouli's Kheelian to Galactic Basic language textbook, and there was a small headset attached to listen to a spoken translation.

Engrossed in the text, Ben didn't notice the time passing until he heard movement in one of the side rooms. Grandmother came quietly in, wearing a pea green robe formed of many embroidered layers. Ben found the right phrase on the datapad, and then greeted her in her own language.

"Good morning, Grandmother."

Grandmother started in surprise, and then offered him a smile of razor-sharp teeth.

"Good morning Ben."

She followed this with a statement he didn't catch all of, but thought it was to do with knowing. She was asking him if he was learning the language, perhaps?

I am trying, he wanted to say, but it came out more like "I attempt."

Grandmother smiled again, and turned back to the shelves. There was a comfortable silence for a while as she moved around the kitchen preparing food items. She bore no recognisable signs of age that he could see in comparison to the other adults. Her fur was as blue as Shaarm's, and she did not seem to be stooped or suffering any limitations to her movement. Perhaps the name was an honorific rather than necessarily linked to age. After all he didn't yet know how the Kheelians aged, or what their lifespan might be. After a while, Grandmother crossed over to his side of the room and offered him a cup, which he accepted gratefully. The drink tasted similar to the tea they had drunk with dinner yesterday, although this was chilled and sweeter.

"Thank you," he said. She ran her hand through his hair in reply, and then asked a question that he didn't follow at all. She found the translator on the table, and asked Ben how he was feeling.

"I am good," he said, and just at that moment, one of the doors off the living chamber swung open and a yawning Ooouli padded into the room with Tiki clinging sleepily to her back. Tiki was wearing a long nightshirt, but Ooouli was in a formal-looking robe and trousers of bottle green. She exchanged some words with Grandmother, before spotting Ben on the carpet.

"Ben!" She loped over and folded up on the floor next to him.

"Good morning Ooouli," he said in her language, and Ooouli looked delighted. Tiki lifted her head up he she heard Ben's voice, and the raised her arms, sliding down her sister's back and onto to the floor.

"Benben!" she announced and then slumped into his lap, just avoiding his healing leg, and burying her face sleepily into his shoulder. She weighed a ton. He put an arm around her and rubbed the fur on the back of her head affectionately.

"Someone needs to go back to bed," he told her. "Sleep?"

"Ben! You learn!" Ooouli was delighted with his rather small efforts at speaking their language.

"I looked through your textbook," he told her using the translator. "I hope you don't mind."

"No, no! It good," She was insistent; she would teach him Kheelian, and he could teach her Basic in return.

They started by looking through the datapad together with Ooouli reading a grammar lesson slowly out loud, but before long they had regressed to pointing at things around the room and naming them in both languages. Even Tiki perked up after a while and joined in with the Kheelian words, although she remained half sitting on Ben, fingers tangled into his beard. Ben had added a large number of new words to his vocabulary and Ooouli was still trying to pronounce the word 'table' when Shaarm, who Ben hadn't even noticed entering the room, reluctantly interrupted to remind Ooouli that it was a school morning and they had to leave shortly for the town. Apparently yesterday had been the ten-day resting day when everyone was at home, but now Shaarm also had to go back to the surgery. The two of them gathered up Ooouli's textbooks, ate a rapid breakfast, stroked everyone's fur/hair goodbye, and then with the promise that they would do more learning later, Ooouli and Shaarm dashed out of the door.

Ben was left to play with Tiki, who finally seemed to have woken up a bit. She had fetched a puzzle of shaped plastoid blocks that apparently were designed to be fitted together into a frame, and they spent a peaceful half standard with Tiki passing him the pieces, and Ben fitting them in place under her direction. After a while, Chana entered the room through a side door, and spoke with Grandmother at the cooker. Within a few moments, they had both joined Ben and Tiki on the carpet, bringing with them a tray of foods, and a jug of ice-cold liquid, which turned out to be some kind of tangy syrupy juice.

"Ben!" Chana greeted him with a few pats to the neck and head. "You are well?"

Grandmother handed him a piece of fruit. After last night's experience with Kheelian food, Ben tasted it with extreme caution. It was floral and highly scented, with an odd soapy texture, but it didn't try and burn the inside of his mouth out, so he was more than content to eat it.

"I am very not bad," Ben replied, smiling at his own lack of coherency. He was still learning after all, but that sentence had hardly been articulate. It did not seem to matter to Chana who was patting Ben's shoulders and back with delight. Until Shaarm returned, or Ooouli brought the translator back with her from school, they would have to make do with what rudimentary language they had between them.

Wondering where Pakat was as he hadn't been seen yet that morning, Ben tried to ask. Chana's reply mostly meant nothing to him, but he heard the word Kender, and assumed the other Kheelian was out on the moor. He remembered Shaarm had told Ben last night that her other husband worked up there.

By the end of breakfast, they had discovered three more foods Ben couldn't eat and one more thing he could; a crunchy, flavourless biscuit, which by the repetition of the word phuff from last night made him assume they were made of the same sort of stuff as the orange dumplings.

He insisted on carrying some of the breakfast items back into the kitchen for Grandmother when they were finished. Walking on two legs rather than three or four made carrying burdens much easier, even when he was using his walking stick with one hand. Grandmother led him through a door he hadn't been through yet into a long corridor lined with shelves and cupboards. The stone floor was suddenly colder under his bare feet, and he stepped out into a brightly lit, half-covered walkway. The partial roof was made of the same translucent white material as the main house, letting filtered light in. One side was open to a sunlight, walled garden area, in which grew hundreds of brightly-coloured plants laid out in high raised beds up to the far wall. There was a mechanism at one end of the covered walkway which Grandmother led him over to. She turned a long handle attached to a winch, and the mechanism began to wind. After a moment or two, water bubbled up, presumably drawn from some great depth below the earth, and splashed into a broad stone bowl. Grandmother led him over to the sink and he handed her the dishes which she washed and then stacked in a small rack.

Before Ben could turn to go back into the house, Grandmother reached down and gripped the sides of his face firmly with both hands. He held still while she turned his head, peering critically into his eyes. After a moment or two, she made a humming noise and let go of his head.

"What is it?" Ben asked, a little uneasy. He was never sure how to interact with the elder at the best of times.

"Bad," was all she would reply, and tapped his forehead. Then she turned away, and led him back into the house. He wasn't sure what she had meant by that, but it couldn't be good. First the memory loss, and now headaches and nosebleeds. Were his physical injuries just the start of his problems?

Back in the living quarters of the house, Tiki was now dressed in a brown tunic and trousers and Chana was doing up the fastenings on the front of her green coat. Chana himself had added a long yellow robe over his brown tunic and trousers, and there was a large backpack by the door. The two looked as if they were getting ready to leave. Chana held out Ben's green woollen robe to him.

"Ben, go out?" Chana asked. Ben shook his head, not understanding. "You see Thet, Kender, Pakat..." he added.

"We are going out to the village? To Thet?"

"Yes, Ben,"

Ben was slightly anxious. He felt much better than he had, but he didn't know how far they were intending to walk. Although Chana surely would not have asked if he thought Ben could not manage it. And Grandmother too was pulling on a midnight blue coat over her robe so it seemed that she was going out as well. He really did not want to be left here on his own with his thoughts.

"Yes," he nodded, "I would like to come, but I need some shoes."

Another problem, of course. Kheelians did not wear shoes and Chana did not understand what he was asking for. Through gestures and guesswork, Ben eventually managed to communicate that he needed something for his feet. This did involved showing the soles of his feet to Tiki and Chana and letting them feel the difference between his skin and the Kheelians' own tough hides. Ben also discovered he was ticklish; not a distinguished trait he was certain. Grandmother realised first what it was he needed, and returned with several pieces of leather, a bundle of animal wool and a ball of string. Between them they bundled the wool around his feet, and then wrapped them with strips of leather. Ben then bound the string tightly over the leather to hold it in place.

Ben stood up cautiously, and tested his new footwear. It seemed adequate; his feet were warm for the first time in ages, and the tightly wrappings should protect his feet and ankles from the worst stones and twists. He smiled at the Kheelians and thanked Grandmother. They were ready to go.

As he stepped outside, Ben could see that the day could not have been more different to the one when he had awoken up on the moor. The small, dark yellow sun was burning in a clear lavender sky, accompanied by two huge moons which were bright and well defined. The air was crisp and clear, and seemed free of pollutants or chemicals. Ben, of course, had not yet seen the Kheelians' house in daylight, and as he stepped out through the large door, he turned back to look. The main part of the house was circular as he had thought, crouched in a grassy green hollow with grey stone walls and a domed roof of white plastoid. Leading off from the main dome were at least eight side passages or rooms, some of which interconnected and some snaked off for some distance. He couldn't see the walled garden he had been in earlier from here; it must be obscured behind the rest of the buildings. The sails of a white wind turbine span lazily at the back of the complex.

He wandered on ahead of the others across a broad terrace of meadow grass in front of the house which led up to the ridge at the edge of the dell. From here, the valley opened up and he could see a scattering of dispersed farmsteads across the valley floor and clustered along the line of a narrow road. Several had enclosed gardens or fences, and livestock animals were grazing in the larger fields around. Beyond the village, the cliffs descended into crags and then into rolling green hills, dotted with wind turbines. Far away, following the line of the roadway up the valley, he could see sunlight glinting of metal and dark shapes. That must be the town of Tszaaf. Raising his gaze and turning around, he took in the rest of the vista. The cliffs of the moor, dark and imposing, rose up some distance away, and he could see the distant pillars of the rock stacks he had climbed up on the cliff edge against the skyline. The line of the stone steps were just a distant shadow from here, but the waterfall shone like dancing silver in the sunlight. The cliffs themselves were curved along the horizon, enclosing the valley in a great crescent.

The group set off down towards the village, with Chana and Grandmother walking at the front, talking quietly, but setting a slow pace on behalf of their small guest. Tiki insisted on holding Ben's hand, even though she seemed to find balancing on three feet while walking more difficult than the others. She generally seemed to be a quiet child, but occasionally she would burst into speech, or ask him questions, mostly that he didn't understand or couldn't answer. A large insect with a shiny blue carapace at the side of the road was a matter of great interest, and they had to stop for several minutes while Tiki examined it. Ben considered how old she would be in relation to a Pechnar child; four standard years at most, he would guess, depending on how quickly this species aged. That thought made him wonder again if he had children of his own somewhere in the galaxy. He clearly liked children and enjoyed teaching, but could he imagine being a father? The thought made his headache throb behind his eyes.

After a turn and a half of walking, the fields and meadows on either side gave way to scattered buildings, and they came to the outskirts of the village. Up close, he could see that the houses were of a variety of styles and materials. Some were stone built, like Shaarm's family home, while others were of duracrete, or even of baked mud bricks. Other structures seemed to be more temporary, built of plastoid panels. Every house had a garden area of plants and vegetables grown in rows or up trellises, and he noticed all had small wind turbines or solar generators in the garden plots. Self-sufficiency seemed to be important here, although he did not know if it was through choice or necessity. He saw no droids, and few transports.

At the third house they passed, a male Kheelian was working in the garden. He paused his digging, greeting Grandmother with a bow of his long neck. The three adults exchanged a few words and leaned over the fence to stroke each others' fur on their arms and heads in greeting. The male looked around for Tiki, and his eyes fell on her and Ben. His double-take was almost comedic. He called back towards the house and dashed through a gate. Behind him, a Kheelian woman came out of the house, and joined him at the gate. Ben tried not to look frightened and uncomfortable as they reared up above him, tugging gently at his hair and clothes. He felt small, and terribly vulnerable, but he stood still, enduring. A short conversation ensued of which Ben followed almost nothing, although from the tones of voice he imagined it went something along the lines of;

"What the kriff is that thing?"

"It's a Pechnar that turned up injured at our house. We've decided to keep it."

"It's weird looking. Where are its parents?"

"We think its full grown. Pechnar are just really tiny."

"Why has it got no fur?"

And so on. After a while, Chana seemed to indicate that they had to move on, and the Kheelians reluctantly stopped pawing at him. Ben let go of the breath he hadn't realised he was holding, and his ribs twinged in protest. He hadn't counted on being such an object of interest in the village, although Shaarm had warned him that Pechnar were not known there. He wondered if he should have stayed back at the house. Tiki gripped his hand tightly and tugged a little. "Benben," she said, encouragingly.

They continued on down the road and passed four more houses before suddenly they rounded a corner and came to a large palisade fence. It was taller than Chana would be standing on his back legs, and was built of linked duralumin posts, painted dark green. Ben stared at it in surprise; he hadn't noticed it when looking down at the village from the house. The defences seemed incongruous with all he had learned of the peaceful Kheelians.

"Chana," Ben asked, pointing at the fence. "What is this?"

"On Kender," the Kheelian said, struggling with how to express the words. "Animals live there. They were very...hmmm…not happy? Many came."

Ben mused on this as they passed through a gateway in the fence and entered into the main village. Shaarm and Grandmother had mentioned dangerous creatures dwelling on the moor when he had first awoken. He wondered what it was that Pakat did on Kender, and if it was dangerous. It was certainly a serious-looking fence, but he had seen no other signs of defensive capability about the Kheelians. There were no weapons that he had seen, and there were a significant number of houses built outside the fence, Shaarm's included. Perhaps the threat was not so great, or was lesser than it had once been.

This part of the village seemed to be busier than the outskirts. The houses here were closer together, and the gardens rather smaller in size. They passed a number of Kheelians in the street, all of whom greeted Grandmother with respectful bows, and Chana and Tiki with pats, strokes and hugs. They all regarded Ben with astonishment and curiosity, although Chana, who seemed to have sensed his discomfort, said something which caused the Kheelians to limit their attentions to gentle pats of his head and shoulders.

Grandmother seemed to be a person of some note within the village. They went from house to house, with Grandmother conversing at length with the inhabitants, after they had all discussed Ben first, of course. He wasn't sure if she was taking or giving advice, gathering opinions, or merely checking the Kheelians' well-being, but sometimes they doubled back, returning to a previous residence to pass on some new development or discussion. After a while, Tiki began to fidget, clearly bored. Ben's hip and thigh were starting to ache. Chana spoke quietly to Grandmother, and leaving her to her discussions, he ushered the two of them outside the house, back into the day-lit street.

"Come," he said. "Grandmother makes many words, yes?"

"Yes," nodded Ben fervently. Tiki laughed, and clung onto Ben's hand.

"We get more food for Ben," Chana said, and then followed it up with a sentence in Kheelian. Tiki agreed enthusiastically with whatever the suggestion was. Ben nodded.

Chana led them across a the road to another building This one was constructed of pre-fabricated panels, and was a larger than most of the others. It also had a landspeeder parked outside, one of the few Ben had seen. The inside of the structure was cool and dim, and after blinking his eyes a few times, Ben could see it that instead of another domestic house, this was some sort of large storeroom. The space inside was contained rows of shelves containing hundreds of different boxes and containers. Fresh vegetables and produce took up one half of the room, while the other held preserved foodstuff, fabrics, electronics, rope, tools, building materials, and a host of other items of all sorts, mostly looking half-used or recycled. There was a Kheelian at the back of the shop who was moving things around on shelves. He didn't come rushing over like the other Kheelians had, but smiled cheerily as he continued to move the crates. Chana led them over.

"Ben, this is Nenka," Chana introduced him. "He is the son of my sister."

Chana then switched languages, and Ben heard his name and 'Pechnar' and 'Shaarm', and words he now recognised as 'house' and 'wounded'. Nenka ran a hand through Ben's hair in greeting, and Ben patted his arm in response. Nenka's age was revealed by the colour of his fur; his mane and arm fur were golden yellow, but there remained youthful patches of white around his face and neck. A teenager, or young adult then.

A lengthy conversation between the two Kheelians began, with Chana taking muddied vegetables and pots out of the bag he had been carrying and placing them on the counter. There was what appeared to be some fierce haggling, followed eventually by an agreement, and the two of them went around the shop gathering a selection of items which were packed back into Chana's bag. Nenka gave Chana a hug, Ben a wink, and Tiki a bar of some sort of candy, and their shopping was done.

"To the water?" said Chana. Ben just nodded, not understanding but happy to follow. Chana led them slowly back through the village, stopping briefly at the house they had left Grandmother at to let her know they were going on ahead. They exited through the palisade, and then across the fields. They were heading in the direction of their house, but then Chana turned aside and they headed instead towards the distant waterfall. Wherever they were going, Tiki was excited, and started to pull on Ben's hand to hurry him up. He let go of her hand and gave her a gentle shove.

"You go on ahead if you want to!" he told her, tugging on her ear gently. "Don't let this old man slow you down."

She laughed and scampered ahead a little way, only to pause and look back, to check he and Chana were still following. Chana called out something to her, and she trotted off.

"She like you very much," said Chana to Ben.

"Yes," he replied in Kheelian, "I make a great toy." The growing ache in his head and leg made the comment sound more waspish than he intended.

Fortunately, Chana just laughed. "Yes, true. You are so small, like a doll."

They rounded the corner, and were greeted by a magnificent sight. The little stream that poured over the cliff at the edge of the moors was falling on to the rocks before them, throwing up a plume of spray. It was not a great body of water; indeed, the broad channel at the top of the cliff edge suggested that the falls had at one time been massive. However, the stream such as it was fanned out as it fell, creating a wide curtain of splashing water. This gathered in a small pond, edged by mossy greenery and plant life, before trickling into a shallow stony bed and running down towards the village. Tiki was already hovering at the water's edge, looking back. Chana called out a permission, and she scrambled into the stream, laughing. This tranquil spot seemed to be their destination, and with great relief, Ben lowered himself down on a large rock. He had been walking or standing for many hours this morning, and his body was complaining.

Chana glanced at him with a concerned eye, but made no comment. Instead he opened the backpack and took out a few packets, laying them out on large flat stone. So this appeared to be a picnic. Ben hadn't noticed but he was also quite hungry.

They watched Tiki play at the brook's edge, splashing in the water, and before long, they were joined by Pakat and another Kheelian who appeared from the other side of the river. They must have come down from the moor. Ben watched the arrivals with curiosity; the new Kheelian who came with Pakat had fur that was dark purple in colour. Ben had not seen fur that colour on any of the Kheelians in the village and was at a loss as to what that signified. The new arrival was introduced to Ben as Porra, although the Kheelian looked distracted and did not react with surprise to see a Pechnar in Thet in the least. Chana gave Ben a small container of grol, which was worse cold than it had been hot, and three flat slices with a bready texture which tasted like the dumplings. Tiki also had the breadlike substance, but with a number of colourful cubes of vegetable. There was more of the cold tea in a bottle. The other adults helped themselves to the other foodstuffs laid out.

Chana and Pakat spoke amongst themselves for a while in that quiet voice that adults use around children who they hope will think the conversation too boring to listen in on. Ben thought they looked anxious.

"What has happened?" he asked.

Chana answered, in Basic. "The animals on Kender…they move."

"Here?" Ben glanced up at the cliffs, as if their arrival was imminent.

"No! Not. But they are not good. Not happy." Ben thought he understood, assuming 'not happy' meant some sort of serious dissatisfaction. The three adults were concerned. Ben rubbed his forehead, feeling a little spike of tension.

After the meal, Pakat and Porra said goodbye, and turned back towards the cliff steps. Their work day was clearly not over. Chana did not seem inclined to move, for which Ben was grateful, and the two of them sat in the sun and watched Tiki play. After sometime, two more children appeared, shortly followed by a third. This was obviously a well-known spot. The children greeted each other easily and then quickly entered into a game that seemed to involve trying to climb across the shallow water using the stones, although slipping and falling in seemed to be just as much fun. Chana produced a sheet of plastipaper from his pack, and began sketching. Ben had almost forgotten that he was an artist.

Of course, it wasn't long before the children caught sight of Ben, and came over for a look. Tiki spoke very firmly to one of them who had leaned in close to Ben and looked as if he were about to prod him in the belly. Ben smiled and tried to look friendly. "Hello," he greeted them in their own language, which produced great joy from his audience. They talked at him and poked and patted his skin a little curiously. Ben sat patiently, and eventually the children returned to their game.

Ben wasn't really sure how much time had passed, but eventually Tiki came over and said she was tired. Chana put away his sketchbook, and they packed up the remaining food items. Ben stood up and was forced to sit straight back down again as pain instantly flamed into life in his leg. He had rested too long and everything had seized up. If he could remember any curses he would have used one. Instead he was forced to merely grit his teeth, and push his fist into his hip.

"Ben, okay?" Chana was asking.

"I'm alright," Ben said, and stood up again. He managed only a couple of limping steps before he had to stop again. His hip felt like it was on fire.

"Here," said Chana. He swung the pack round until it was hanging on his front, and hunkered down in front of Ben, clearly inviting Ben to climb up on to his back.

"I can't!" Ben protested, a little embarrassed. "I'm far too heavy to be carried about. I can walk. I'll be alright in a moment."

Chana snorted. "You! Not so. Lighter than Tiki! Get up."

Ben remained on the floor, feeling ridiculous. Chana sighed.

"Get up!"

Knowing he really wasn't going to get far on his stupid leg and he would only be slowing them down, Ben reached up for Chana's shoulders.

"Here," Chana showed Ben where to fit his foot in above the Kheelian's leg joint, and Ben climbed up. He got a grip on the warm fur, and just about had time to tuck his cane under his arm and brace himself before Chana rose up onto his four feet.

"Not bad!" said Chana, and set off. It took Ben a while to get used to the rocking motion of the Kheelian's walk, but he found if he leaned back and relaxed he could keep his balance pretty well. Even with Tiki's shambling walk, they moved must faster without having to wait for Ben, and it wasn't long before the house came in to sight over a rise. They reached the front door and Chana sat carefully up on his haunches. Ben slid down, landing on his feet with a jolt. Tiki took his hand and lead him into the house while Chana disappeared around the side of the buildings, toward the garden.

"Ben," said Tiki, and tugged at the front of her coat. He undid the fastenings for her, and then pulled off his own coat. It was pleasantly warm in the house after the fresh wind outside.

"I take," said Tiki taking Ben's coat, and proudly carried it off towards his room. Ben followed her to the back of the house, and then diverted off to the washroom. By the time he emerged, Tiki was standing in the living space, watching him limp across the room. She looked upset, and it occurred to him that she probably didn't understand why he was in pain again when he had been well that morning. He smiled at her and tried to look unconcerned.

"Do not frown, Tiki," he said. "Where is Benben?" The mention of her doll cheered her up, and she disappeared into the room where the girls slept to fetch him. While she was gone, Ben lowered himself down on the floor in the living room with relief. His head and hip throbbed with every movement he made, and he could tell that he had overdone things. Chana came in through the garden corridor, and saw his expression.

"Ben, you are bad? So sorry."

"I am alright," Ben said with smile. "I enjoyed the walk."

Tiki reappeared, and Chana spoke with her as he moved things around in the kitchen area. She brought her doll over to Ben and tucked him under the man's arm with intense concentration. Then she gathered up some cushions and dragged them over, pushing on Ben's shoulder.

"You want me to lie down?" He gave in, and lay down on his left side on the cushions she had brought. His injuries twinged at the movement, but lying down did seem to help. Tiki smiled at him, stroking his hair. Chana came over, and knelt down at his side.

"Try this," he said, holding up a thick green square, like a medical dressing, about the size of the Kheelian's hand. He peeled a film layer off one side, and gave the item a shake.

"Where does it hurt?" He asked. Ben gestured to his side and hip. Chana lifted Ben's tunic and smoothed the fabric patch over his skin. Instantly, a soothing warmth flooded into the joint, and he almost groaned with relief. Chana smiled, pulling Ben's clothing back in around him, and adding a blanket, tucking it up to his chin. Tiki sat down, leaning against her father, sucking her thumb. Ben extracted the doll from under his arm and inspected his namesake. It was probably once red in colour, although it was so patched and repaired it was difficult to tell. One of its four limbs had been reattached at some point in its history. The threads of its joints were coming undone, but its face was still smiling. Ben felt he might have more in common with it than Tiki had intended. He held the doll out to the little girl.

Tiki took it, shifted a little to get comfortable and then murmured something to Chana. He smiled, and looked at Ben. "She wants me to tell you the story of Benborena."

"Benborena?"

"He is a Kheelian folk hero. Tiki named her doll after him."

Ah, the original Benben. Ben smiled. So he was named after a folk hero and a doll? This name was getting crowded.

Chana pulled out a book from the shelves. Ben caught a glimpse of bright, gaudy pictures before he rested his eyes. At his side, Chana launched into a familiar tale; of Kheelians under threat from a terrible fate, and Benborena, the knight in shining armour, whose destiny it was to save them all. It was probably a story that, which a few variations, was known to every child in the Galaxy. Ben was asleep within minutes.