Chapter 2
She came out from the entryway cover to walk him indoors from the rain. Irikah helped him take off his bag, "….This gets heavier and heavier," she could feel the weight in her grip supporting the second strap, and Kolyat was quiet as he removed the bag from his body and set it on the table, opened it and pulled out several books.
"I'm going to check my boudicea, Mamua."
"Okay," she had the ultimate feeling he would be disappointed, and watched as he walked from the kitchen through the dining room, into the hall for his bedroom.
Irikah remained at the table, waiting.
While she waited, she happened to glance down at the books and paused, her sharp eyes fixating on a folded paper that had slipped out from hiding between the bindings. Looking up to see where Kolyat was, she saw he had made it into the room, and took this opportunity to be nosy.
Papua….As Irikah read on, having pinched the folded paper out from its pages and opened it, her eyes creased with sadness….She skimmed the contents of the letter to his father, and what it told her Kolyat had hoped to do before Thane left, near broke her heart….Quick as a heartbeat, she turned the paper onto itself and made sure to place it between the pages where he had stored it, "….Kolyat, do you want to go to dinner with me tonight?….Would help me if we got out this evening," and no reply came from down the hall.
Irikah abandoned the table, books and letter….Faster than she intended, Irikah went through the dining room, and down the hall to his bedroom. With a knock on the frame, she looked inside.
Kolyat had one hand on the desk, his head underneath it as though looking—hoping—to find something might have slipped onto the floor. Irikah knew there was nothing there to be found then, and it made her insides scream at Thane….How could he forget?
"No note?…." And he shook his head in reply, "….He was in a rush, Kolyat."
He stood up from kneeling under the desk, his hands by his sides. His gaze lifted to hers, and Kolyat understood she was trying to make him feel better….His father had said he would write him something special, but that something was not to be found.
"Did you ask something of me, Mamua?"
"Dinner out tonight. You up for a date?…." Irikah forced a smile, one that told Kolyat ….We'll get through this.
He nodded shallowly, "….Where?"
"Well, something fancy or casual?"
"I hate getting dressed up, Mamua."
"Casual then," she pursed her lips, "….How about we go to Lavila's in Donika Holosphere?"
"That's two tunnels over, Mamua."
"Yes, but it's close enough….and it's not dressy."
"Okay….Can I drive?"
She smiled, genuinely now, "….When you get your certificate to drive in seven, or Never years." Kolyat pouted, and his sulky expression reminded her of Casnar's, her brother, "….Let's go, you can do homework on the way."
"This supposed to be your idea of relaxing?"
She rolled her eyes as the door closed.
A few minutes later, both had changed into casual dinner clothes, and were in the under-baylet of the cotti. Both were inside the skyrunner, and preparing to leave.
The skyrunner purred at being engaged and was rising from its parking spot. The door of the under-baylet was open, and the skyrunner drifting forward. Irikah had made last checks that the cotti was secure, all doors having been locked as she recounted her steps in her head, and the under-baylet door the only one open, waiting for them to leave by.
The active skyrunner signaled the door's mechanism to lift, and once it was out, the door would close automatically. Irikah in front and navigating, Kolyat in back with his books and reading, the door of the under-baylet groaned at being made to wait for the ascending vehicle finally accelerating out.
They exited the under-baylet and entered the rain of Kahje. The door began to close, the skyrunner darting upward to leave its station beneath the cotti. Kolyat read to the sound of rain drumming and hissing over the windows, streaming over the side glasses, and the rear, to flick off in their wake.
"How was Primary today?"
"Numbers, writing, recitations as usual," he could follow the conversation, participate simultaneously as he read and committed to memory his studies, "….The handlers switched our god names today….We have to write the new ones down so we can save our souls from having 'prayed to the heathen' deities, Mamua."
"They did that?"
"Uncle Casnar would have a tif with how the new handlers portray Nish'kana in The Illuminated's perspective."
"He would get riled," Irikah kept her eyes on the guiding lights stemming up with inverted cones from the land below the skyrunner, as she navigated towards the Moorem Bay spaceport. She also watched for other skyrunners' lights in the fog and cloud, "….Do you want me to invite Uncle Casnar out tonight, see if he's free?"
"He's busy."
"I can message him from the skyrunner, it wouldn't be inconvenient to ask."
"Just fly us, Mamua. Uncle Casnar's busy. He's being sent on more long distance projects."
"Oh, he didn't mention that—"
"I was pinging him today from 'Technical Studies', Mamua."
"You can do that in class?"
"Not really," he paused from reading, "….but everyone gets away with it, and the proctors can't see what we're doing in labs."
"Don't get in trouble."
"I won't, Mamua," Kolyat resumed his reading.
Irikah smiled to herself, pride in her son's sneakiness, worry in her son's sneakiness….as always.
She didn't like the thought of him abusing the trust of the proctors—some perhaps his future handlers or sponsors—but what could she do?….This was part of the way of life on Kahje, appealing to the hanari, working with and around them as much as one could, and Kolyat was proving himself capable of doing so without being caught for his (so far) "minor" transgressions, but what if he tried to do more?….What then?
She guided the skyrunner among the inverted cones of light shining through the fog, misting with the droplets of rain and vapor, and wound their vessel closer towards the spaceport's "highway" tunnel that sank below ground to connect outer-living Drells and their families to the poorly-constructed holospheres dotting all over Kahje, but mostly in and around Sybilla, the dead volcano west of them.
From rain to underground—even below water as it was impossible to avoid The Encompassing on Kahje—would they descend and travel via the network of connecting tubes that sprawled below land and ocean.
As she drove, she could not help reflecting a little on the restaurant she was taking Kolyat to….Her first date with Thane in the holosphere, just on the outer perimeter of the great "bubble" dome.
A sudden gust of wind and rain swerved the skyrunner from its trajectory, and Kolyat's books in the seat beside him slid onto the floor.
"You okay, Mamua?"
"Yes, just a squall, Kolyat," she adjusted course to return to their flight path, and overrode the automatic handling of the vessel to guide it manually. Her hands gripped the smooth handles below the dash's display.
Kolyat bent his head and body in his seat to reach for the books on the floor, and picking these up to reset in their place beside him on the next seatpad, he straightening and resuming his reading under the halo of light from the lens above his seat.
"You're not coming down with what Gra'Mamua has, are you?"
"What?…." Irikah lifted her gaze to the rearview mirror to see him with his eyes down on his book, presumably, in the back, "….What makes you think I was slipping?"
"I saw you from here, Mamua, you were slipping."
"I was lucid….My mother—your Gra'Mamua—has the disease, I don't."
"Isn't it hereditary?"
"How do you know that word?"
"I learned it in 'Biological Studies', Mamua."
"Well, it can be….Primary's teaching you a great deal, I see."
"Don't 'avoid the topic', Mamua—"
"Listen to you, being an echo of me…." She smiled spitefully at herself. He was using a phrase she used on him whenever she backed Kolyat into a "corner", demanding an explanation for when he misbehaved.
"Whatever."
"I'm not losing it, Kolyat….I can't."
Kolyat paused his reading, glancing at her facing forward from his view of her profile, and resumed his studying.
Irikah saw the numerous lights presenting the entrance by the spaceport for the tunnel that would take them underground and under ocean. The skyrunner dropped lower and entered the mouth.
The network waited ahead to bring them to the holosphere.
The mouth had a wide, dark flatness to its upside-down trapezoidal presentation, and lights dotting the interior to help guide the traffic (though there were few other skyrunners present at the moment). Irikah always thought it reminiscent of the mouth of a "worm". The lights were constructed of inorganic materials housing organic cellular "tech", giving the "worm-mouth" a living quality with their slow pulses of re-cycling bioluminescence.
She navigated into the void.
At the change in trajectory, Kolyat's arm and hand zipped out and caught hold of his books on the seat beside him, before these could slide to the floor again.
Irikah tried to balance out the skyrunner to lower at less of angle, and joined with the lit darkness of the tunnel, still few skyrunners with them at present….She accelerated, however, to merge with the speed limit required for these underground ways….Pressure increased on both of them, and Irikah yawned to "pop" her tenesses. Kolyat followed suit.
For the next five kilometers, they would flow and merge with more skyrunner traffic. The tunnel evened-out from its descent underground, and skyrunners' lights were soon found flying numerously along with theirs….Irikah flicked on the display icons for Kolyat to have more light in the back by which to read, now they were in the darkness of the tunnel network.
"I can see, Mamua, but thank you."
After following another turn in the current tube they were flying in, traffic began to ascend with the incline of the passage.
Traffic seemed to pick up speed with the curve of the tube.
Once again, they "popped" their tenesses by yawning, one after the other.
Filling the wide expanse of the tube's surfaces, light began to filter down from the exit higher and ahead. The broad, curving corners of the tube could now be seen better, and the promise of imminent holosphere….As if blessed by pure migratory instinct of birds, Irikah's skyrunner merged into line among others organizing to slow and enter the light above, and the city.
Despite the controversial history of the holospheres' construction woes, the city inside the great glass "bubble" dome was a remarkable feat, shielding the city from rain falling from the clouds….Towers mushroomed upwards in descending levels of size to nearly touch the height of the holosphere's arching cover, and cottis as well as prefabricated homes (provided courtesy of The Council when The Illuminated Primacy reached out for aid) "bricked" in ascending rows and columns, built literally atop each other to accommodate the crowded population of Drells and Drellahnas from Rakhana. It was dense and pretty in a way, although holospheres were less desirable to live among because of the "ground" squalor.
Bridges spiraled from the mushrooming towers, connecting levels to the ground or other stages in the vertical structures. The original layout was to have been more seamless—in regard to the colors and materials—but improper forecasting waylaid that potential end-design. It barely supported the numbers of Rakhïk immigrants that came from Rakhana through The Compact, and so cottis like Irikah and Thane's own were permitted to be built outside the holospheres, the caveat of constant rain and moisture being acceptable, though a main drawback to living free of the holospheres.
Through her perfect recall, Irikah was able to locate the destination of the restaurant by her memory, and found parking available at the early hour of the evening.
She prepared to unlock the doors, checking their surroundings of the dirty street and its vicinity.
The skyrunner lowered into the spot between two others on the ground nearby Lavila's. It was not hard to navigate from the entry into the holosphere with Drell memory being so clear and concise….They took their time tending to what needed to be done to depart the vessel.
Irikah was content with the fact the restaurant was on the outskirts of the city, which meant no need to travel deeper into dangerous slums.
It was convenient as well to avoid the congested traffic deeper-in and leave for home when it was time.
After checking with Kolyat in the back, he telling her he was finishing up, and that she could turn off the lights, Irikah shut down the skyrunner's engine and thrusters, and the "parking" was officially done as the vessel settled onto the street.
Kolyat closed and set his book atop the others, unharnessed himself, and opened his door.
Irikah was already out, purse in hand, and closing her door. She waited for Kolyat to close his and to step to her side before she turned and began walking with him, "….Your father took me here when—"
"You two started to see each other, Mamua."
Irikah gave her son a sidelong glance—He was dressed in a fresh tunic and loose pants, the footwear the flats of children his age with a monotonous grey color to these….Soft and comfortable for growing feet.
Herself, she was dressed in flats with a stiffer sole, pants that billowed loosely about her hips and tapered below at her ankles, and her top collected round her waist at the front, and flowed behind her….A very Rakhïk fashion….The top and bottom matched in a soft azure pastel. She had a shallow trail of the top's fabric floating as she walked along. Her arms were covered in a "spiraling roll" of gathered fabric, lighter in color than the pants and top. The look was elegant and simple.
Irikah did not have to dress with much effort to look well as though she exuded something more than she cared to be associated with….Whether she wished to or not, Irikah was "Tyrannus Tierrea" quality, and she tried hard most of the time to ignore it.
On Rakhana, she was "high-blooded Drellahna".
Even dressed conservatively as she was, hiding most of her color, she stood out, and so did Kolyat, but not quite as much as a gold-scaled drellahna.
When she was actually dressed "up"—to go out with Thane for an evening, or a daytrip with her family, or with Casnar, her brother who insisted they not "hide" themselves—Irikah caused mouths to drop open, and tongues to hang out.
Beauty was a gift, and so was it a curse.
And Kolyat's colors, having changed from golden to teal and black over the years since he was born, set him apart from her distinctively.
They walked side by side along the street towards the entrance of Lavila's, which had a short framing due to the construction of banners over the inner entrance, and Irikah had to duck her crests to avoid catching the curls of these on the fabrics….Hands in his pant pockets, Kolyat followed in next, not having to duck his head.
Yet.
"Two by the back, please," Irikah saw the host was also the waiter—and formerly a "busboy" who tended the restaurant for many years before being promoted to handle patrons….He saw her with recognition fluttering his green and blue eyelids together.
"Nefen, it is good to see you come visit us again. Has it been a year already?…." He beamed her a smile, and looked at Kolyat. Irikah offered a polite smile in turn, and she did recognize the drell as a busser from years of stooping his head and shoulders, moving quietly and discretely among patrons while she and Thane had dined on their anniversaries at Lavila's….Apparently he was making a career there.
"I'm sorry," she did feel poorly for having no recollection of his name, "….I haven't gotten your name—"
"Alisandr," he picked up two menus, utensils bound in cloth napkins, and a blue "lighter block" for them from under his counter by the cash register, next to the bar.
Alisandr took everything with him in his hands, and led Irikah and Kolyat to the back row of tables.
At the time of her initial visit to Lavila's with Thane, she had not realized Thane had chosen the table where Alisandr directed them to by his memory of their consistent occasions there, and that Thane had preferred the middle table they were settling at because it had the best view of all the doors and windows, plus ease of access to the exit through a hallway in which restrooms could be found, adjacent to the kitchen's secondary doors….Alisandr placed everything onto the table, arranging all so Kolyat and Irikah would face each other, with her seated with her back to the front of the restaurant, and Kolyat with his back to the rear wall, like his father would have seated himself were he there instead.
"You have grown fast, Sered," the waiter stood behind Irikah's seat, helping her into her chair while smiling across the table at Kolyat, who waited for his mother to be seated before taking his own. Kolyat looked up at the waiter, and then over at his mother.
Alisandr whipped out a lighter from his hand and cuff, and illuminated their faces as he set the lighter block aflame….Blue fire licked upwards from the oily fuel rectangle on its plate, "….When you are ready?"
"We'll need a moment."
Alisandr went to the front to attend to new patrons ducking to enter the doorway.
"He seems to have grown well into his role here," Irikah raised her eyeridges and smiled over her shoulder before looking at Kolyat, "….He does everything now but cook, I wonder."
"You and Papua know him?"
"He used to be a busser, and he's seen you when we brought you here to celebrate an anniversary, never mind.…Let's look at our menus…." They lifted the leather panels and studied the offerings.
"What should I get," Kolyat looked up at her, "….What did I eat when I was here with you last?"
"You ate what I fed you from my own plate and your father's….Too little to have your own menu items, Kolyat," Irikah grinned at the memory of him—tucked into her dress folds, nibbling on morsels she gave Kolyat—as a baby, "….Everything's good. What are you in the mood for?"
"Something," he grew a pensive look on his face, "….Mamua, I think I need to use the bathroom."
Irikah gave him a puzzled look, "….So soon?"
"I have to go."
"Go there," she pointed to the hallway, covered with a sparse curtain of beads, "….It's around the wall."
"Thank you, Mamua," he stood from his chair, pushing it back with a slight skidding, and left to find the washroom.
Having seated a few more couples, Alisandr returned, "….Drinks, Nefen?"
"Alisandr," Irikah turned in her seat to look up at him, "….if you don't mind, please don't call me by that title here."
"But it is disrespectful not to….You are—"
"I know that you consider it very respectful to call me by that title, but we are not on the old world—"
"Yes, Nefen—I mean, Dre'kelah?"
"That's….acceptable," Irikah feigned another one of her polite smiles—something she was in endless supply of from having learned how, growing up on Rakhana within her family, and Alisandr went to bring them two waters.
He came back shortly, bearing two glasses, and set each down in their respective spots per the table's occupants, "….Where is your mate?"
"Business."
He nodded in understanding, "….I see, so we will see you again in a year together?…." She smiled and nodded, and that was that.
Kolyat came through the beads over the hallway and returned to his seat.
He and his mother listened while Alisandr recited the Specials not included in their menus.
Kolyat decided to order a flamangah (a form of salad) and Irikah the chiruza (a cut of cooked meat and starches). Alisandr shook his head and Irikah winked at Kolyat, "….Watching your figure, Kol'?"
"Not watching yours with those 'aquatic meat farms' you like to consume with Papua?"
"At least it has bones in it, not like those packets that grow in pods in a factory, ready to pick and serve."
Alisandr left to deliver the orders to the kitchen.
"Why did you and Papua choose this place for your first date?"
"The food, and it was the only place he could bear to bring me to."
"He was embarrassed by you?"
"Very much….Your father didn't think I was his type."
"So why did he marry you."
"Because he saw you in my eyes, and he knew." Kolyat made a look of revulsion—"capable" by only young Drells such as himself, and Irikah laughed, "….Does that embarrass you, Kolyat?"
"Yes."
More laughter came from her chest.
Kolyat picked up his menu that Alisandr had left, and chose to "read" it rather than endure more embarrassing conversation with his mother.
In time the food was served, and over their meals, they resumed talking.
Kolyat informed his mother what she wanted to know of his day at school. Watching her son speak down at his food as he was answering her questions, his leaning-out, teal-and-black face hauntingly illuminated by the lighter block flame, Irikah listened intently to her son, wishing that Thane were there to hear him, too.…Their child had grown so much, there in the light of the blue flames….She began to tear as warm memories of how happy everything was when he was young—a weething in her arms, held by Thane often, when everything seemed so "possible and right", came into her mind….Kolyat was so small, and his eyes were brilliant green like hers, and his skin so beautifully golden back then.
"A miracle from Arashu….This should have never happened to me, Siha, and here—"
"Here you have brought something beautiful and good into the world, Thane," she turned her face to his in front of the bright green eyes slowly opening under their chins, and kissed him, "….You see, there is hope for you yet…." Ten minutes after having been born, they held Kolyat Krios-Soterios together in their arms.
"Mamua, stop…." Kolyat was staring at her, a tinge of worry in his dark eyes.
"What?…." She lifted her chin off the palm of her hand. Blinking, she forced away the memory.
"Slip-ping," Kolyat gave her a small scowl.
"I must be…." Her tebris flattened in the light of the flaming block, "….Sorry, Kolyat, I remember things more as I grow older."
"Are you ever going to bring me to Rakhana again, Mamua?"
The tines of her eating utensil bringing a bite to her lips suddenly stilled, "….I….haven't planned on it."
"Why."
"Various reasons," she lowered the utensil to her plate, "….It's not safe, Kolyat, and it would be challenging to leave when we wanted to."
"Don't you think I should meet more family, like Uncle Cartira, or your half-brother, Tetonbaum?"
"Yes….No, well….Why are you asking?"
Kolyat's lips pressed together, the black licks of scale appearing like "horns" or "fangs" above and underneath them, and Irikah knew he would be fierce-looking one day, as her ancestors were before the golden scales came into existence in the bloodline.
"I will always be here, Kolyat," suddenly Irikah understood why he was asking.
"Everybody dies some day, Mamua, we read about it in Biological Studies, and it's just a matter of how and when," he was talking into his salad again, "….and if Papua's not around, when he dies, and if you're gone, I should know—"
"You do know family here on Kahje," she tried to assert her confidence in her tone, "….You know Casnar, Iulia, Tor, Tiran, Roh, Sapph—"
"They're some….Just not the rest of your family….Do they not want me to come to Rakhana?"
"My family has….issues, Kolyat….It's a dilemma for me and your father, I know you can't understand—and you are frustrated by my answer, but I would prefer not to expose you to certain elements, not yet, but maybe….in time….But as for support, we are grateful for those who are with us here, on this planet, Kolyat."
"But what happens to me if something happens to you and Papua?"
"There will be a plan, Kolyat….There's always a plan."
He looked skeptical for a nine-year-old, but Kolyat resumed eating his flamangah without further expression of these sad concerns he had….Irikah picked up her utensil, and the morsel still on its tines, and resumed eating, though more did weigh now on her mind of troubles.
She finished a little sooner than Kolyat. Alisandr came over with an itemized receipt for the order and Irikah took out her purse, "….I'll be back in a moment, Kolyat, I need to pay the bill….Oh, did you want anything else?"
"No, thank you, Mamua….I'll finish my food."
Irikah accompanied Alisandr to the front where the cash register was, to pay for bill and gratuity.
The door was the origin of a boisterous group of voices, and through the entrance came a bunch of Drells, fresh off work and labor in the holosphere….As they ducked under the doorway and filed through, Irikah—alone at the front with Alisandr—was the object of much of their attention, and with her back to them, she ignored the stares by keeping her eyes down with Alisandr as they calculated the gratuity she wished to leave him and the restaurant.
The drells lined up at the bar, waiting to order drinks….As Irikah waited for her chit to be processed by the outdated register, Irikah could feel the lingering looks on her face, neck and crests, even on her ankles above her shoes, from the drells at the bar, and more still straggling passed her….The stares, and the pauses of conversation were all because of her, and it grew uncomfortably long as in silences, thoughts will be churning.
Kolyat had noticed the group coming in along with the other couples sitting around him, but he noticed his mother's catching the attention of every male recently come through from the doorway….He continued to eat, now watching both his dwindling flamangah and his mother at the front with Alisandr.
"Thank you, Alisandr….Dinner and service were great—as usual."
"All settled, Dre'kelah," he gave her the secondary receipt, which she took into her purse and sealed, "….We look forward to seeing you sooner than later. Thank you for again honoring us with yourself, and your company," and Irikah turned to head back to Kolyat. She attended to her purse as she had to walk passed the large group mingling in chairs and "leans" by the small bar, crowding most of that right half of the restaurant….They were not shy towards her, and their conversations—which had picked up again—now settled into murmurs.
"Good evening," one more bold, less dirty in his work attire than the others, stepped out in front of her path, "….Would you join us for drinks?"
"Oh, no, thank you, Sere….I'm here with—"
"Don't balk—Come! One drink…." Another insisted.
"I'm here with someone," she gave the drell blocking her view of Kolyat a flat stare.
"Bring her over then—"
"I'm married," Irikah held up a ring on her conjoined middle fingers of her left hand, hidden by the purse until now, "….and I'm here with my son."
The drells turned their heads to look about, and only saw Kolyat who looked nothing like her color, young among the couples spotting the tables throughout the restaurant's other half.
"I don't see anyone who looks like your—" Kolyat stood from his seat and walked over to reach his mother.
His plate was left unfinished, but for a few leafs and vegetables.
"I'm ready, Mamua." Kolyat stared only at his mother, and he was so small compared to the drells and she (though he was tall for nine), and the rest of the drells watched as Kolyat stepped in close to her, protectively of her.
Irikah gazed down at Kolyat come to her left, around the drell standing before her, and her heart swelled at how brave he was, and how perceptive….Placing her hand on his shoulder, she squeezed and drew him tight to her, keeping her body as a barrier between Kolyat and the rest of the adult males studying both she and her son together….She began to walk him towards the doorway, passed all the faces.
"Your husband should think carefully about letting such a pretty Tyrannus alone into Donika Holosphere, Nefen."
Irikah ignored the voice that had spoken such a warning to her, guiding Kolyat still to the doorway, and nodding her Goodbye to Alisandr, who was having to observe everything from over the register, an anxious expression on his patak.
"Nefen?"
"Alisandr," her voice was a near-hiss, "….Please."
Kolyat was pushed gently ahead of herself and through the doorway, out into the air of the holosphere. Irikah did not stop and emerged into the street with him.
The ride home was quiet.
Kolyat read his book, resuming where he had left off before dinner, and trying to take his mind from what had occurred at Lavila's. His other books lay on the seat, ready to be read.
Irikah allowed the skyrunner to return home on Auto, her temple rested on her knuckles, elbow propped on the padding between window and door beside her….She sniffed through her delicate nostrils, and blew out through her lips with a venting of her frustration from the evening.
"Are you sad, Mamua?"
"Fine, Kolyat, I'm fine….Thank you for coming to Lavila's with me….I'm sorry about those Drells ruining it."
"How did that Drell tell you were Tyrannus Tierrea, Mamua?"
"Who, Alisandr?…."
"No, the one who said something rude to you before we left."
"Oh, I don't know, Kolyat," she dropped her hand, which fell to her lap, "….He must have been Old World."