Gonrod
We ran from the battle. We had to retreat, as more and more Yeerk forces poured in.
I was troubled. She was alive, but one of them. There was nothing we could do for her.
I wondered if she was a Controller voluntarily or involuntarily. She could be a traitor.
I would never put it past a female!
Aximili ran up beside me as we ran.
(Was that her?) He asked.
(Of course it was her!) I snapped. (She was the only female on board!)
(Sorry.) He said, sheepishly. (She...she is a Controller now, then?)
(Yes.) I said, feeling a bit of genuine regret, remembering the way Zalismaine had fretted over that female like she was his own daughter. He had treated me with respect, poor old Zalismaine.
Despite...what I was. A...coward.
I had reluctantly taken Jake as my Prince. He was still far too young, in my opinion. But he had been through many battles...
(Sir?) Aximili asked me tentatively, pulling me from my thoughts.
(Yes, Aristh?)
(About...about Estrid, sir-)
(She's fine. She's alive. We made it back to the home world. She's on trial.)
(On TRIAL?!) He looked worriedly at me and actually stopped running for a while.
(Yes.) I said softly.
We stood silently in the forest for a while.
(She's young.) I said softly. (They...they can't possibly do anything severe to her. Uh...it...it's not like she actually did let the virus out anyway...I honestly don't think she wouldn't have. I told them-)
(It's alright, sir.) Aximili said. He looked depressed. I watched him gallop off, towards his scoop. I stood for a few seconds, thinking.
Then, not wanting to get left out in the middle of nowhere again, I followed hurriedly.
I hadn't wanted to stay with some...some...VECOL, even if he had been an honorable warrior! And it was definitely embarrassing to stay in the scoop of an Aristh, so I had begun construction of my own scoop in my spare time.
I would rather sleep in the woods for now, with no roof, than sleep by an Aristh...
Even if there were strange and disturbing noises at night...
Aximili
I could not stop thinking of the young female who had called out so desperately for my help during the battle.
A Princess? One had to wonder. How did she get that position?
I had certainly not heard of females in the military before. I hadn't even known that they were allowed to join. She must have impressive tailfighting abilities if she had been allowed...
Or she had done the unthinkable to get in the military academy...
I certainly hoped not. I liked to believe that all of my people had moral sense. Though the Ascalin Incident on Leera had shaken that faith.
I walked to my scoop and thought of Estrid. Poor Estrid.
On trial? But how had Gonrod gotten out of it?
Because he is a good pilot, I reasoned bitterly. And the War Council had needed someone to pilot the one dome they were sending to Earth.
Why send one domeship? Simple. They had nothing else, and they wanted it to seem as if they were putting in some effort. They must still have the rest of the fleet at the Rakkam Garoo conflict.
But I knew the truth. We were alone in our fight.
Alone...
I sighed.
The thought of Princess Kaetila being another Andalite-Controller only depressed me further.
She was beautiful...
I forced my mind off of that. She was much too old for me.
Besides, I could not stop thinking of Estrid...