THE REMNANTS

Chapter 4: Bella (Badiyah)

Strong hands wrapped around her, pulling her closer to his cold chest. His nose nestled into the crook of her neck as he whispered soft words to her in a language he never taught her to speak. Still drifting in that gray space between waking and sleeping, she was unsure if it was a dream. Her heart soared and heat flooded her from her head to her toes as he trailed kisses from her neck down her arm. For a moment, she thought she could fly if she wished to and she wished to sing and to dance and to shout all at once.

Then she woke.

In the darkness, she could not see, but she could hear. She grabbed onto the sounds as if they were camel ropes and they grounded her. It was only a dream. If it had been real, she would have woken to empty, reverberating silence, not to kisses and words. Now, she could hear soft snores and felt the heat of a small body beside hers. She groped through the darkness with her hand and fell upon the soft braids of the head that lay near her shoulder on the small mat they shared.

She sighed in relief. She knew that head, those gentle breathes. Zainab, the only surviving member of Amir's third brother, had clung to her from the moment she first joined their family. The girl had barely seen nine seasons of camel births, but she had a maturity about her born from early sorrow. The affection was more than reciprocated by Badiyah, so starved for simple human companionship and warmth, that she welcomed the mourning girl's attention with all her heart. Badiyah pulled the girl closer to her to feel the warmth of blood and heat and life that clung to her growing body and she closed her eyes again.

It had been a dream. Only a dream. As she thought over it, she realized it wasn't even a dream, but more of a suppressed memory from long, long years past. One she had rather not dwell on for too long now. It was, perhaps, the happiest moment she had ever experienced during her time Inside.

That was back when Edward remained her only source of movement and sound.

Now, her days were so full of movement and sound that Before no longer lingered in her waking thoughts. Life in the desert, while ravaged by glaring, blinding light during the heat of the sun, was also filled with lights that moved and changed. At the sun's birth and death, the camel-headed rocks reaching from the sands to the sky changed from a tawny gold to a glowing, earthy red. The shadows moved and stretched longer and longer until their fingers covered the entire land in a blanket of darkness, but even this darkness was never quite as dark as what she had known beneath the sands. This darkness changed and shifted. The phases of the moon could bathe the hills and arches in fey, shadowy light and the stars never stopped their endless march across the multivalent heavens above.

Dawn or dusk, midnight or midday, Badiyah was surrounded in songs and words and movement. She never knew there could be so many stories and she drank in them all like the land drank in the seasonal rains.

Against the endless desert palette of gold and bronze, the Toubou brought their color, sound, and motion. They herded their livestock to move as often as the sands shifted the shapes of the dunes in the lowlands. From oases to mountains, valleys to towns, they kept moving to find what treasured hints of foliage their animals could seek between rocks, around watering holes, and in the higher, cooler lands. As they traveled, they filled the desert with their words, their songs, their stories, and their never-ending trails of footprints.

It was late during the night that her thoughts drifted back to Before. Sometimes, in the stillest, coldest hours of the night as she lay on her mat in her tent, her mind replayed old songs and painted suppressed pictures of the past. Then she felt a pang of sadness strike through her heart like millet pounded by a mortar. With so many sands and stars between them, she could put her fears to rest and allow herself to think back on the Edward she had known and spent so much of her life with and silent tears drifted down her cheeks in the dark. She would always care about him, so deeply it pierced her like a wound, but she could never go back to being "Bella."

She wondered how quickly he replaced her with one of the Other Bellas and if his newest "pet" spent her days listening to his songs and learning his words-just as thirsty for the glimpses of his movements as she had been. She knew how easily he could replace her and she was glad for that. It made her leaving easier since she knew she could not stay. Still, she wished him well with all her heart. She shuddered though, because deep within her, she did not think he could be well. Not with the way he drank so deeply from the darkness in his heart.

When the dreams and the memories creeped upon her during the deep well of night, Badiyah clung to sound and motion to tether her back into her present. Even now, she could hear the grunt of a camel from somewhere behind her tent. A goat shifted positions and bleated. A baby's cry came from the next tent over and quickly calmed as Aisha rose to tend him. Always, day and night, she could count on the sound of flies buzzing around her head to break the silence. These were the sounds of life and freedom and she loved them all.

Beside her, she felt movement. Zainab rolled over and gave a soft sigh in her sleep, accidentally bumping Badiyah in the foot. Badiyah's hand drifted to pull the worn blanket over the girl again. The girl gave a soft sigh and fell back into snores.

Even within her, Badiyah could feel movement. She placed her hand upon the soft place where life grew and felt as a tiny bump pressed against her hand. She felt herself warm from her head to her toes in a sense of peaceful contentedness better than all the fires and sparks of Before.

She ran her hands over the long, metal bracelets on her forearms. These, along with her necklace, nose ring, and hair ornaments were gifts from Amir when she tied herself to him and his family. From where she lay, she could see her small amulet hanging over her head. It was a gift from Fatima to "ward off the evil spirits giving you bad dreams" during her first weeks with the family.

All these reminded her of who she was and that she now belonged to a family and a people. She had found her own oasis and she wouldn't trade it for all the camels and silver in Chad or for all the kisses and soft songs of Before.

ooooo

Her earliest memories from Before were of warring patches of light and darkness, silence and sound, stillness and motion. The very first thing she could recall was a glaring light bearing down upon her eyelids, forcing them to blink uncontrollably under the unrelenting brightness. She thought the light would swallow all her senses entirely and not even her first instinct of closing her eyes could help her escape from it.

All her memories from that time on revolved around Edward, as if he were the sun and all else his planets. For years, all her memories were molded by the one other living person in her life. At first, she thought of him as the "darkness that moved." It wasn't that he was dark, but that in a room sewn out of piercing light, he was the one object that absorbed instead of reflected the brightness.

Around her, the forceful light bounced off of metal tables, white counters, glass cabinets, and white walls and tiles. Tubes and screens, machines and tools, surrounded her where she lay, but nothing else moved. In contrast, his dark hair, dark clothes, and dark eyes captured her attention simply because he moved and was "other."

When Edward came, he brought sound with him. Footsteps, tapping of metal against metal, soft exhales, and a light tune under his breath followed him into her world and he took all unpredictable noise with him when he left. When he was absent, all she could hear was the interminable beeping and hum of machines around her.

She had no concept of anything else. She never wondered who she was, where she was, or how long she was there. She couldn't grasp her own existence as a separate entity from the bed she lay on or the tubes feeding into her body and keeping her alive. She never tried to move or turn or speak. She simply was.

One day, Edward came to her and bent over her where she lay, close enough for her to inhale the light scent of soap and sweetness that clung to his skin and clothes. His piercing eyes were a deep burgundy, nearly black as he investigated her from her head to her toes. She enjoyed the vibrations of his voice against her as he spoke, though she could not understand what he said. The coldness emanating from his body sent a shiver through her even as his eyes left her feeling warm.

He changed her bed so she sat upright and faced the room, flooding her vision with new vistas. He took her hand in his own cold one and squeezed, motioning for her to do the same. It took a few tries before she understood and complied. He smiled in response and patted her hand.

He returned the next day, sat her upright, and took her hand in his again.

"Fingers," he said out loud to her in Arabic as he wiggled each of his and then made a fist. It took her three days to be able to imitate his movement and another week before she could transfer the movement to her "toes."

Patiently, so patiently, he taught her more each day until she could sit upright on her own, kick out with her legs, and run her fingers through over the soft, short spikes of hair on her head.

"Banana," he said as he held up a picture for her to see. "You try now. Banana."

"Fish," he said as he held up the next picture.

"Chair," he said and held up the next.

As he came with his pictures and spoke their names, she learned more and more until one day she could look at the space she inhabited as filled with names and words instead of ephemeral sameness. She knew the difference between a "bed" and her "leg" and it transformed the world at her fingertips. She drank up his words and the way his lips could so eloquently form them. He created worlds with his words and she longed for nothing more than to create her own.

She'd never forget the way his face broke into a brilliant brightness the first day she responded with a word of her own. A sound she had never heard before forced its way out of his chest. She later learned it was called "laughter," but from him it carried such an uncharacteristic joy that she couldn't help but think it the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.

On the day he removed the tubes from her body, he told her they would have a "celebration." He came with a thin, watery substance he called "broth" and gave it to her to drink. It made her sputter at first, but she liked the way it filled her with warmth when she swallowed. He patted her gently on the cheek and told her she had "done well" and she glowed internally with more warmth than even the broth could give.

Without the tubes, her body now called out with unfamiliar pangs and groans when she hadn't eaten or drunk enough. The increasing amount of food he brought helped keep her satiated and gave her more strength. She could feel her muscles growing stronger as she continued to practice using them each day.

"It is time you learn to walk," he said to her one day when his eyes were very red. He gave her a gentle smile and held out his hand. "Don't be afraid. I will help you."

She took his hand in hers and swung her legs to the edge of the bed. His cold, strong arms, as firm as the metal frame of her bed, wrapped around her shoulders. She placed her feet beneath her and tried to stand. Pain shot through her from her toes to her back and she gave a soft cry as her legs collapsed beneath her.

His arms caught her and kept her upright.

"Easy, Bella," he said into her ear. "Lean onto me."

She transferred as much of her weight as she could from her feet to his arms and he supported her. She stood like that until tears feel down her cheeks from the pain and her legs shook so that she feared they would fall off.

"You did well, Bella," he said in a soft, warm voice as he patted the top of her head and helped her back into her bed. "We will try it again tomorrow."

She stood for longer the next day, though she was still sore from her first attempts. The day after that, she managed to take a few steps. Within a few weeks, Edward helped her limp from one side of the room to the other.

Again and again, he half-carried her as she practiced the movement he did so effortlessly. If Edward could be master of his own movements and go where he pleased, she would as well. She grit her teeth and did it, again and again, lap after lap, until sweat poured down her forehead, tears poured from her eyes, and her entire body cried out in protest. Day after day, she grew stronger and went farther. Her jubilant laughter bounced off the white ceiling of the room on the day she walked unaccompanied across the room.

Edward caught her in his arms on the other side and swung her in a circle. His burgundy eyes glowed in pride and encouragement.

"That's my girl!" he said. "Well done!"

Oooooo

"Bella," he said to her as he finished another day's language lesson with her. "You are walking so well now, I have a surprise for you."

He gave her a crooked half-smile and held out his arm for her if she needed the extra support. She only needed it a few times as she walked with him, but she couldn't believe it as he took her to the large metal doors of the Generation Lab. She'd never seen what lay behind those doors, only that when Edward walked through them, she couldn't see him anymore.

He pushed open the doors and they walked through into a long corridor filled with colorful paintings and occasional tables or chairs. After a few turns, he stopped outside a door. He opened this to a much smaller room than she had been in before. If she used her largest steps, she could cross each side of the room in ten steps.

It was painted a pale blue, as light as the veins she could see in her wrist beneath her skin. A bed with a purple blanket lay in the center with a painting of yellow flowers over it. A rocking chair sat nearby. A mirror, washbasin, and set of hairbrushes sat on a chest of drawers near a closet.

"This is your room," Edward said as he swept his hand in the direction of the space. "You don't have to sleep in the Generation Lab anymore," he said. "You have a place of your own now."

Her mouth fell open as she spun around and took it all in. The first thing that struck her was the absence of light. Not that it was dark in the room, on the contrary a cheerful yellow glow came from a light fixture overhead, but the colors and corners and edges of the room absorbed the light as if drinking it in instead of amplifying the light and sending it back. She inhaled deeply as she listened to the quiet. There was no beeping, no hum of machines, only the sound of her own breathing and Edward's feet shifting slightly beside her.

"It's beautiful," she said, meeting his now black eyes with her own. Edward's half-smile returned to her. He walked towards the closet and opened it. Long dresses of various colors hung from hangers there.

"These are for you," he said. "You're a big girl now. No more hospital gowns. Now, you need to learn how to dress yourself."

He pulled one down and told in very specific instructions how to take off the white, thin dress she wore and replace it with the dark violet one in his hands.

"You try to do it yourself. I'll wait outside," he said. He left her in the room alone, though he called to her through the door every few minutes to inquire into her progress. It took her a few tries and a few lessons in what Edward called "backwards" and "buttons" before she figured it out.

"Now, this is a hairbrush," he said as he handed her the small brush. "You must run this through your hair a few times each day to keep it looking nice. Your hair is still quite short, but it will grow and as it does, you will need to get out all the knots and tangles. Let me show you."

He placed his cold hand over hers and lifted the brush to her head where her brown hair now hung down as far as her ears. He pulled the brush through her hair again and again in a gentle motion so soft and soothing that she closed her eyes just to enjoy the sensation.

"Your turn," he whispered into her ear, causing her to open her eyes again. He removed his hand from hers and she tried to imitate his action with mixed results. He motioned towards a silver circle on the dresser.

"Your mirror. You can see what it looks like and if you need to fix something," he said.

She stared into the mirror and couldn't pull her eyes away.

"Who is that?" she asked, her eyes transfixed on the person staring back at her from within the silver surface. A pale face, dark brown eyes, short brown hair and a purple dress stared back at her.

Edward laughed, a full, genuine laugh. "It's you, Bella," he said. "The mirror shows us a reflection of what you look like. See, you look beautiful!" He placed his head on top of hers, his arms around her as he took the mirror from her to point at both of them. "Now, look! Here's Edward."

"That's me?" she said, pointing at her face in the mirror where her cheeks were now flushed red.

"Of course."

"I look different than you," she said, pursing her eyebrows as she considered both reflections.

Edward's expression grew stormy, an expression he fell into more often when his eyes grew this dark. He pulled away from her and placed the mirror back on the chest of drawers. "Yes, well, we are different," he said. His eyes fell upon the washbasin and he quickly changed the subject again.

"This is for you to bathe yourself when you are dirty," he said. "Here is water and soap and a washcloth. I am afraid we don't have a proper bath for you in here, but this will be enough. Now, Bella, I have left food and water in your closet for you. I will be away for a few days, but when I return, we will begin the next stage of lessons."

She nodded in understanding and watched him leave. She was used to his frequent absences and knew when to expect them. Today, she could tell by his dark eyes that he would have little patience for her and could much more easily grow angry or frustrated. His movements increased to an almost frantic speed as if compelled inwardly towards some goal that only he knew. When he returned in a few days, he would be calm, almost to the point of lethargy. His movements slowed and eased, he'd laugh more, and his bright red eyes would sparkle with humor.

ooooo

During the days Edward was away, Bella practiced. She walked the length and breadth of her room and practiced getting on and off her bed. She brushed her hair again and again and watched as the girl in the mirror copied her every movement. She made faces at her reflection and watched in fascination to see how her movements changed her face. She put on and took off every article of clothing in her room and looked at the mirror to see how each changed her appearance.

Then she lined up every article of clothing across the floor of her room to compare the different colors. She had never seen so many different colors, except in the pictures Edward used to teach her words. She could give them each names: the dress the color of a banana and one the color of an eggplant, the dress the color of her hair, and a dress the color of Edward's eyes when he was content. There were so many colors and her eyes delighted in soaking in each of the variations, shades, hues and patterns. She traced her fingers along the material, feeling the stitches and beads, the fabric and the laces that were unique to each. She nestled her nose into them to see if they each carried a unique scent, but she could sense very little.

After a few rotations between sleeping and waking, Bella wished for sounds other than her own feet. In "her room" she was no longer a prisoner of the glaring light, but she was adrift in a world without movement or sound. She thought of how she enjoyed hearing Edward weave words for her, teach her, or simply sing to himself as he did his work. She looked forward to his return. Still, why could she not do the same? He shared his gift for language with her. Why should she not use it?

She practiced speaking. She pretended to speak like Edward and pretended to speak like herself. She spoke to the girl in the mirror, who copied all she did and never answered back. She sang to herself. Sometimes she mimicked songs Edward liked to sing to himself, but more often, she made up her own. Her room was no longer silent and she enjoyed listening to the noises bounce off the walls or vibrate through the furniture.

When Edward returned to her many days later, smelling of soap and fresh clothes and sweetness, he came with a broad smile, hours of words, and a long list of goals for them to work on next.

Ooooo

Her life fell into a constant, predictable pattern. When Edward worked in his labs, she stayed in her room and practiced speaking, moving, eating, and dressing herself until she could do with all with the same ease that Edward had shown her when he taught her.

When Edward came to find her, it was time for new lessons. He showed her where the supplies were kept and how to bandage an injury. He taught her the layout of the "Temple" in which they lived and told her which rooms she could freely enter and which rooms she was forbidden to trespass into.

One day, he brought her into the golden light of what he called, "his room."

"It's a beautiful room," she told him as she gaped at the fine paintings and colors. It was nearly half the size of the lab, many times larger than her room.

He chuckled, his ruby eyes alight with amusement. "I'm glad you approve. For today's lesson, I am going to teach you about music," he said.

"Music?" she asked.

"Yes. You are familiar with singing. I've heard you sing to yourself in your room. That is one way to make music. Let me show you another," he said. He directed her to sit on a long, golden couch on one side of the room. He sat at a large black instrument he told her was a "piano" and let his long fingers sit on the black and white keys.

"Just listen," he told her over his shoulder and then he began to play and it was as if he cast a spell over the room. His fingers on the keys spoke without words and wove new worlds without speaking. Bella sat transfixed and tears ran freely down her cheeks as she closed her eyes to listen.

He could have played for hours and still it would have been too soon for him to stop. When his fingers ceased their magic, she opened her eyes. He left his piano to kneel before her where she sat. With one finger, he caught a tear from her cheek and placed it on his tongue. He shook his beautiful head and his eyes danced with amusement as he took her hands in his.

"Why do you cry?" he asked, his head cocked slightly to one side.

"You made colors with sounds," she responded. "I didn't know that was possible. Can I hear more?"

He gave a slight chuckle and rubbed her hair with his hand.

"Of course," he said. "After all, this is our lesson for the day."

She enjoyed that lesson so much, he decided to make it a weekly part of her learning. She knew he enjoyed it as much as she did and that was why he acceded to her wishes to easily. She could tell by the way light flowed through his face when he played and how his shoulders stood taller and lighter after. If she thought him eloquent with his words, it was because she'd never heard him speak with his music. It was at his piano that he wove pictures of his innermost thoughts in a way words could never capture and she was captivated by him as much as by the music.

oooooo

One day, he lay on the carpet on the floor of his room, his dark red hair in contrast to the soft yellow of the carpet, and he stared at his ceiling. He sang along with a song played from a recording done by someone else and he told her it carried memories from a long time before and it made him nostalgic.

"Each era and place and people create their own songs," he told her. "Their songs capture a bit of their soul and who they are as a people. I've lived in so many different places and eras and peoples, it's like travelling through time when I listen to music from days long ago."

"Which was your favorite place?" she asked.

"This one, right here and now," he answered, meeting her eyes and not turning away. She flushed and her face felt hot, though she didn't understand why.

"Teach me more about the other places and peoples," she said to him.

"I will," he said. "I have an idea on how to do it."

That was the night he began to read to her. She sat or lay on the cushions of the golden couch and listened as he filled his room with poetry and prose, stories and essays, fictions and biographies from around the world and in different times and eras and languages. He read them in the languages they were written in. Many times, she did not know much of what he spoke of until he translated for her, but she loved to listen to his words almost as much as she loved to listen to his music.

He filled her world with his sounds and his movements so completely, that she could relive it all during his monthly absence. She grew a rich repository of songs to sing and poetry to recite to keep her company during the long days of silence until he returned to fill her empty, quiet spaces again. He was her world and, in that moment, it was a happy world.

Oooooo

One day, he told her she was "ready" and he brought her through a pair of strong, metal doors into a world she had never known existed. Above her, an endless and unreachable ceiling made of black and blue and covered in pinpricks of light covered the land as far as she could see. Dark silhouettes in the distance broke the patterns made by the lights and ate it all with black emptiness. Heat emanated from the soft sand beneath her feet and from the sides of the building they had exited. She stayed closer to Edward's coolness in response, hiding behind his arm, fearing the heat would sear her through her skin.

"You are never to come outside without me," he said as they walked. "It is very dangerous here and you could be hurt."

"What is Outside?" she asked.

"We are outside now," he said with a chuckle. "Most of the time, we are inside our Temple, but when we come through those doors we are outside in the desert."

He took her to a large metal room on wheels that he called a "truck."

"You have a very important job," he told her. "The reason I created you and have taught you all I have is so that you can fulfill this very important task. Each month, you will need to drive this truck to a place I will show you and pick up supplies for us. Without supplies, you will not be able to eat or drink or have clothes or soap. Do you understand?"

She didn't but she pretended she did and nodded.

"Let's begin," he said and creaked open the passenger door to help her in.

Oooooo

He taught her for months upon months upon months before her first supply run. Until she could drive the truck and fuel it and fix basic mechanical problems, she wasn't prepared enough. He taught her what to do in case it broke down in the massive expanse of sand he called a "desert." He taught her about the Toubou, the camel people, it was her job to meet with and gather supplies from. In exchange for the colored paper "money" Edward sent her with, the camel people were to fill the back of the truck with supplies.

"In case of problems…if anyone tries to lay a finger on you or threatens to hurt you, use this," he said and handed her a pistol. "Carry it with you every time."

"What will it do?" she asked.

"Keep you safe," he answered succinctly. "If you ever need me, you call me on the cell phone and I will be there faster than the truck would drive you. I'll do whatever I can to make sure you are safe."

She nodded.

The first time he took her to meet the camel people, she couldn't help but gape. In the darkness, shapes and silhouettes flew past as they bumped over the rough sand road. It took hours. The moon rose with a brilliant glow that flooded the landscape with soft illumination that enabled her to see Outside. Bella gasped to see rocks and sand dunes and bushes emerge from the darkness.

Edward chided her to pay attention.

"Stop gaping like a fish," he said with a chuckle. "You need to pay attention. You will have plenty of time to take in the view in the future. You'll be downright sick of this drive by the time you master this. Right now, you need to learn this route like the back of your hand. I will make sure the GPS is set for you, but it's better you know this way without relying on technology."

She tore her eyes from Outside and focused on the road and the moving line on the GPS. It beeped when they arrived at the coordinates. Sure enough, Bella could see figures moving in the moonlight, waiting for their arrival.

Bella paid little heed to Edward's introductions or the loading and unloading of supplies. She was entirely overcome with taking in the new sights in front of her. She was torn between staring at the huge, sandy animals chewing their long mouths and towering over her taller than even Edward or staring at the camel people who unloaded boxes and containers from their backs and placed them in the truck.

An earthy, pungent scent hung around men and beasts alike and it was unlike anything she had ever encountered. They wore blue and brown robes and white turbans. Their faces were dark like cinnamon sticks and thick hair grew on their chins and above their mouths. They were shorter than Edward and their eyes were dark like his when he was short-tempered. They spoke quickly with words she'd never heard before intermixed with words she knew but with a slightly different twist to the way their tongues released them.

"Sometimes Amir comes with some of his kin and sometimes Omar comes with his. Sometimes the brothers come together," Edward told her during the drive back. "Their family has faithfully delivered our supplies from the air strip for decades. You shouldn't have any trouble with them. Are you ready to try it yourself?"

She nodded.

"Good. This is a big responsibility. You are freeing me up to be able to tend to my work back at the Temple and I will be able to keep our home protected from possible dangers. You are very important," he told her.

Her heart swelled at the thought of becoming "important." Having spent so many years completely dependent on Edward for everything, she felt overcome with happiness to be able to have something useful and important she could do in return for him.

Ooooooo

She pulled the truck back into the underground parking garage of their compound. Her headlights revealed a tall, lithe figure waiting for her in the shadows. He broke into a smile when he saw her. He came and opened her door and gave her his hand to help her shorter frame down from the tall cab of the vehicle.

"How'd it go this time?" he asked her after he'd closed the door behind her.

"It went well!" she said with her own answering smile. "I saw a shooting star on the way. It went all the way across the eastern sky. I also saw a fennec fox near the rendezvous point."

Edward gave her a glance that clearly communicated he found her interest in such mundane sights amusing. However, to Bella, her nights in the desert were now the highlight of her months. She looked forward to her Outside time in the desert with the camel people. To her, it was freedom and newness and otherness and she always wished it could be longer.

"Amir and Omar told me about the birth of a new camel last week," she continued enthusiastically. "They will bring it when it is old enough so I can meet it and taste fresh camel milk."

"Lovely," he said sarcastically and rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said when he caught her crestfallen expression. "I'm not particularly fond of camels."

She shrugged and decided to keep her other stories to herself. Amir and Omar knew so many things she didn't and she could spend the whole night listening to their stories about goats and rain and sandstorms and their latest journey through the desert. She didn't know a lot of the words they used, and she loved them for it because it gave her new things to learn and ask about.

They were never in a hurry and told her stories until her alarm told her it was time to leave in order to be home while it was still dark and cool. She'd never been out in what Edward called "the day" but he said it would not be safe for her so she made sure to return to him before the sky turned fully grey and pink and the land took on colors instead of only shapes.

She grabbed one of the parcels from the trunk and followed Edward into the supply room. He'd managed to carry half of her load in one trip and she knew he'd gather all the rest before she could even walk back to the garage. She started to cut through the paper, string, cardboard, and tape holding the various boxes and packages together and she put the supplies where they belonged in shelves and drawers.

She'd have hot tea again, she thought happily when she opened one box of foodstuffs. Another box contained a series of books and she nearly jumped up and down in excitement.

"Ah, I see you have found your surprise already," Edward said as he reentered the supply room and gave her a wink. "I ordered some more books for you. Many are children's books, but I think you will enjoy them more for it. Shakespeare is a bit hard to really capture in translation."

"I enjoy it all," she said. She picked up one of the books and thumbed through the many-colored pictures in it. "I do like the ones with pictures the best though."

"I know you do, sweetheart," he said and bent to kiss her on the cheek. He laughed when she blushed.

"Here, I got something else for you," he said as he opened up another box. He brought out a series of smaller boxes and grinned at her as if he held an offering of the finest of treasure.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at the boxes skeptically. "What are they?" she asked.

"Games!" he said. "Chess, checkers, and a deck of cards. You might be the only person in the world who has a chance to beat me."

Oooooooo

Late the next night, long after she had mastered the rules to checkers and war, she dreamed of Edward. It wasn't unusual for his presence to follow her from her waking hours into her sleeping hours. As the central figure around whom her days revolved, it followed her dreams would also prominently feature him. This one was different. In this one, it was more than a dream-like manifestation of him. It was as if she felt his presence near her and that triggered his entrance into her unconscious.

She woke with a start and found herself alone in her room. Her attention was caught by a light sound made from where the rocking chair rocked of its own accord and she caught the faintest trace of sweetness lingering in the air. She sat up and looked around, but she saw no one.

A few nights later, it happened again. This time, instead of sitting upright or making any motion, she lay as if still asleep and listened. The soft sound of the rocking chair creaking against the tile floor could just barely be heard and that same sweet scent drifted to her nose. When she woke next, she was alone.

As the months passed, she noticed he came the most during the days when his eyes were growing darker, but before they turned the shade of his piano. He thought she was asleep, but in her dreams, she could always sense when he was there.

One night, he crept so close to her that she could feel the chill of his body, even as she slept. He knelt on the floor beside the bed and bored into her with his burgundy eyes. Then he crept closer still and ran his nose up and down her arms, never quite touching her flesh but still sending goosebumps across her whole body and making her flush with heat and questions. He paused just close enough to her hair that she could feel his breath stir through it as he inhaled. Before she opened her eyes, he was gone.

She never asked him about those visits, and he never brought them up.

ooooo

After a full hot season ran into a cooler season and she proved herself capable in her tasks, Edward decided she could be trusted with more. On a day when his eyes were a deep burgundy, he introduced her to what he called, "the Other Bellas."

In a series of small beds lay about five pale, fragile figures. They could not move or speak. Tubes surrounded their bodies along with the interminable beep and hum of machines. Light white gowns covered their bodies and short, soft spikes of hair grew on their heads. Their brown eyes stared unseeing into the glaring lights of the rooms they now inhabited, all looking back at her with the exact same face she met in the mirror each day. She jumped in slight surprise.

"What are they?" Bella asked as she turned to Edward.

"They are just like you used to be. I made them in the same way that I made you," he said.

"Why can't they talk?" she asked.

"They have never learned," he said with a shrug. "That's what sets you apart from all these ones. You are different because you can speak."

"Will you teach them words like you taught me?" she asked, her eyes bright with earnest curiosity.

"No," he said. "These will have a different future than you. They were created for another purpose, but they are just as important as you are. Now, I have brought you here to teach you how to take care of them. Their lives depend on our care and so I am going to give you a very great responsibility to help preserve their lives. You will be a great help to me and free me from having to worry about their care."

"I'd be happy to help with whatever you need," she said. She beamed at his responding embrace and the way he ran his fingers through her hair.

"I know you would," he told her, his red eyes glowing in earnestness.

ooooo

Bella's tasks now included changing IVs to make sure the Other Bellas had enough food and fluids, washing them, checking vital signs, and identifying possible problems with their health. She felt so very useful and so very proud to be given such important work. She was set apart from these others and chosen by Edward for the tasks he gave her. She was the only one whose companionship he sought and that made her glow with an internal warmth and put a smile on her face while she worked.

This task also gained her the freedom to travel to more rooms during his absences. She was glad for this because she noticed his absences began to grow slightly longer and more frequent than they had before.

She tried to befriend some of the Other Bellas. At first, she was excited to see there were possible companions who could learn to speak, like she did, and who could keep her company when Edward was away. She managed to teach one how to wiggle her fingers and say, "hi" before the girl disappeared. She returned one day to tend the Other Bellas during Edward's absence and her bed was empty. Her pupil never returned and Bella cried until Edward returned.

"Where is she?" Bella asked him. In her distress, she nearly threw herself into his arms. "I couldn't find her anywhere."

"She's outside now, in the desert. She won't ever be coming back," Edward said in a tone harsher than he usually used with her.

"You said the desert is dangerous! We must go look for her before she is hurt!"

"No, Bella," Edward said. "She won't be coming back. Don't become attached to the Other Bellas. They will come and go quickly and you will only be causing yourself pain to think that they can be like you. They can't."

Bella broke down into tears. "Can't we keep one and teach her to speak and walk like you did with me? Then I could have someone else to talk to when you are away. We could have, what is the word you told me? We could have a family."

The expression Edward gave her was so hard and cold, she shrunk back and wondered where she had erred. "No. You don't need a family," he responded. "Your kind and my kind, we don't have families. It's impossible and to think otherwise is inviting folly and disappointment."

"Edward, what happens to them?" she asked. "What do you make them for?"

He refused to answer any of her other questions.

She tried to listen to his advice and keep her distance from the Others. Still, days could be so long and empty and quiet when Edward was away. She struggled to find ways to keep herself occupied as she walked the echoing halls of the Temple and Generation Lab.

During one absence, she discovered an entrance to the ventilation system which carried air throughout each of the rooms of the Temple. It was just big enough for her to squeeze into to explore. She was excited to discover where it led, and even more excited to find that not only did it connect to every room of the Temple, but it also led Outside. Two different vents brought air from Outside to Inside and if she sat by them, she could see small glimpses of what went on in the world beyond the windowless walls where she lived.

She nearly screamed in fright the first time she stumbled upon the burning, bright heat pouring in through the vent that she later found was from "the sun." At night, she could see the stars or the moon pass overhead. From the second vent, facing the ground, she could occasionally catch glimpses of lizards or insects and other precious reminders of life, and watch the sand get swept by the wind.

She spent hours and hours watching what she could see from Outside until she the time when sounds and movement came back to her Inside. Her heart rejoiced every time as she bounded down the halls to find Edward, clean and fresh and contented, waiting for her with a broad grin and open arms.

"There's my Bella," he said and embraced her, placing a kiss on her temple, and refusing to let her to the ground until she squeaked and kicked her legs in feigned protest.

Ooooooo

Bella lay sprawled on her stomach on the large, newly acquired bed in Edward's room. Her bare feet hung off one side while she cradled her wet, freshly cleaned head on the other. She paged through a book of pictures in what Edward called, "an ancient National Geographic magazine." She liked looking at the buildings and streets, the different people and animals, and imagining what it all was like.

"That's Paris," he said from where he sat on the bed beside her, running his fingers in circles over her back. "It's a beautiful city. I spent a few years there quite a long time ago. Nothing is quite as lovely as the sound of ancient church bells over the city or the way the lights reflect in rain puddles on the cobblestone streets."

"I wish I could see it," she said with a wistful grin. "It looks beautiful. I'm making a list of all the things I'd like to see. Someday, I'd like to see whales and snow and a skyscraper and a pyramid and what a crowd of people sound like when they are all squished together in one place."

"You will," he said with an amused chuckle. "Someday, I'll take you to go see it all. We'll travel the world, you and I. We can visit the greatest libraries in the world and you can hear a live symphony play or jazz on the streets of New Orleans. We will do it all together."

"I'd like that," she said with a light sigh. "But what would happen to the Others if we went away?"

"Someday, we won't need the Others anymore," he whispered into her ear as he lay his head against hers. "Someday, we will leave this place and start a new life together."

He began to hum his latest creation to her, a song so sweet and lovely it always drew tears from her eyes. She fell asleep there with her face still against the magazine as she listened and felt herself enfolded by his arms.

ooooo

Author's Notes: This one was so long, I had to split it in half. Here's the first half. I'll give the next half in a few days.

One reviewer asked about timeline for this story. It's a good question as we jump around a bit so let me give you a couple of important dates (starting with the first chapter) but without giving too many spoilers:

2252: Peabody works in Barzkah

2177: Operations in Barzkah cease

2148: Badiyah is "born"

2065: Edward leaves Cullens and travels to Barzkah

The rest rest follows canon time.