Chapter Twenty: Saja the Jior

Once she was certain they were far enough away, Saja dropped the haughty look. She held up her hands in the universal gesture of peace. With slow movements, she unsheathed her knife, knelt, and set it on the ground. "I mean you no harm," she said softly in her native tongue as she stood, rather than the stuffy Iesh'sha one.

The fennec fox watched, curiosity sparking in his eyes.

Saja held up her hands again, then slowly reached into her shoulder bag. The animals behind the fox tensed, but he held an arm out before them. She pulled forth the two translation units, unwound the wire from one, and showed the fox how she clipped it on the top hem of her tunic and on her belt. Then she offered him the second unit, stretching her arm out toward him with a slightly bowed head.

After a long couple of heartbeats, he reached over and took it. One of the others, a black-and-white dog, examined it briefly and nodded; the fox clipped it on.

"Interesting that carry you a forgnathu when brought a human translator," the fox said; Don's device interpreted about as well as it had back in the world in which it was created.

Saja shook her head. "I do not know what a forgnathu is, sir, but I had to pretend to be an Iesh'sha to the humans if I was going to have any real chance of finding Raphael."

"You are no an Iesh'sha…" The fox processed this. "That understands your unease." He looked pointedly at Saja. "Why searching for Raphael?"

The truth? Yes, the truth.

"I was sent by his brother, Donatello. A bad man attacked his family and captured them all in one night. But instead of imprisoning all of them, two were sent to other worlds. This one I knew because I… was here recently." Saja's heart pounded. Her hands twisted the hem of her beautiful tunic.

An astonished coati on the fox's left blurted out a question.

The fennec fox shot him a look, then said, "How are you able travel to world other?"

"Uh…" I've never told anyone this before. Especially since becoming a human. She gazed down at her new black shoes. "I'm…" Come, just say it. "I'm a J-Jior."

No response. She finally glanced up.

"What is a Jior?" The fennec fox's eyes held something else now, something softer that Saja couldn't pin down.

They've never heard of Jior. Well, I shouldn't be surprised; my people hardly advertise our presence. "I can travel between worlds at will. My people are travelers. Observers." And we must never interfere, she added bitterly.

"Have been you to the world of the Iesh'sha?"

"Yes. Not for long, though—they were so arrogant, it made me sick to watch."

"Have been you to the place of the Tali?"

"Yes."

"The Zaelon?"

"No, but I've heard of it."

The fennec fox regarded her.

Crickets chirped. An owl hooted. Full night had long since fallen.

"Did bring proof any of brother of Raphael?"

"His brother wrote a note to Raphael, but it's in their tongue." She fished out the folded paper and handed it over. "Please, even if you do not trust me, let me have that back, sir."

The fox nodded, and unfolded it. After a glance, he refolded it and gave it back. "A tongue never seen upon my eyes," he said evenly. "Any other proof?"

"Uh… Oh, yes. Raphael's brother found his other weapon. It has a funny name…" Saja pulled forth the three-pronged, red-handled weapon from her satchel. It feels odd to hold a weapon besides my knife.

The fox's eyes immediately flashed in recognition. He stepped off to his right; the other animals moved aside. He inclined his head and swept a paw to the right, toward the interior of the building. "Please, come in."

He's seen the weapon's twin—that means he's seen Raphael! Donatello, I am so close to finding him for you! Heart daring to fill up with hope, Saja replaced the weapon along with her own, bowed, and stepped inside.

The Da'an base was similar in size to the Othila bases, perhaps a bit smaller, but certainly much older and more worn. A row of huge, lumpy machines sat in the middle, or boarded-over holes where others had been. Small, square, jerry-rigged rooms of wood and canvas lined the long wall to the left, the back wall, and some on the right, but occasional real doorways punctuated the walls.

Someone keyed a code to close the door while the fennec fox dismissed the other animals. As they dispersed, he turned back to Saja. "The name I have named myself is Vesuva."

He believes me enough to give me his name.

"It is my honor to learn your name, sir." Saja bowed again. "I am Saeyaja K'el, or simply Saja."

"Of who named you your name, young one?"

"Um, my parents, sir."

"And what means it?"

Saja twitched. "It… it means 'wandering lily'… sir." I'd rather be 'Standing Lily' or 'Not-Enslaved-by-Cholaksae Lily.'

The fennec fox—Vesuva—eyed her body language, but said nothing. After another uncomfortable moment, he waved his tiny paw in a broad gesture. "So our Raphael is truly from world other. Is your home also?"

Saja shook her head. "No, sir. I have no home anymore. I traveled to the world of Don and Raphael—right into their home, by accident." Then I attacked the resident out of panic. Well, he did leap over to me with a weapon and yell questions at me in a language I'd never heard. "Once Don had… decided I was not a threat, he gave me food and shelter. He would have let me rest until I could travel again, I am sure, but then a new enemy captured his family. Don found the place where Raphael had been fighting the enemies, and a dart that had hit him. Since I am a Jior and I can travel to other worlds, and I had been to this one recently, I sensed this world was where he had been sent." That's a lot of words for me.

Saja realized she'd been avoiding eye contact throughout this speech and forced herself to look up. Act brave like the great Parvoss.

Vesuva's eyes held a mixture of reactions as he absorbed all this. Finally he said, "Have you way to return Raphael to brother his?"

"Yes, sir." Is he here? Can I take him back to his world tonight? Excitement helped set Saja set aside her weariness. If I have the strength.

"Let us go see if he is conscious." Vesuva turned.

Conscious? Saja started to follow, and then a thought occurred to her. "Oh, wait, sir. If Raphael is here, that means my search has ended and I no longer need the humans. I should dismiss them as an Iesh'sha."

The fox paused. "They may no longer trust you an Iesh'sha, from way you talked with me. Might arrest you for impersonating Iesh'sha, even. Perhaps, let us send writing out by a group of Da'an."

He's right; I did behave very oddly for an Iesh'sha. I can imagine the representative getting to the air vehicle and calling the ambassador, who would confirm that a real Iesh'sha would never dismiss her staff to talk with so-called lower beings, the slaves of a world.

Vesuva led her to a makeshift room formed out of tarps and pallets, where Saja sat at a rickety table and wrote a quick note in Iesh'sha to the representative and the other officials—something insulting about how their slaves served her better than they had managed, and how she was trying to decide if they deserved punishment for failing to grant her simple request. That should put enough fear into them that they'll leave me alone long enough to teleport away with Raphael. She read the message to Vesuva, and he nodded. "That hears like an insulting, arrogant Iesh'sha."

The fox called a group of armed Da'an over, gave them the message, and sent them out.

"The humans won't harm them?" Saja asked, worry clouding her face as she watched them slip out the door.

Vesuva glanced up at her and his mouth eased into something almost like a smile. "No fears, sweet one. Can handle themselves."

Sweet one? No one has called me anything nice in a very long time.

"Come. Let us see health of Raphael, and then it time for rest. Perhaps he will be well enough for travel in morning."

"He's not well? What happened?" Saja hurried after Vesuva as he started across the wide room, detouring around some mysterious bulk of leftover machinery. I've heard of factories. I think I've been in one or two. This must be an old one.

"The Othila captured him after caused many damage in one of their bases. Some damage purposefully, some not. Either way, they were so angry that they misused drug theirs on him. He almost died, but our medic saved him. Body his recovering now, but woken up not yet." Vesuva spoke matter-of-factly as he strode toward a doorway, but Saja, although reeling from this revelation, could see anger in his eyes.

What? Well, that explains why all the Othila looked so furious when the human mentioned his name, she thought, followed by Don, I can't believe your brother almost died before I even found him.

"Bren." Vesuva paused in the doorway, and Saja, half a step behind him, stopped too.

Before them stretched a healing room, its lights dimmed a bit. A raccoon in the white coat of a medic approached between two rows of cots, half of them occupied by injured animals. His sharp, guarded eyes took her in; Saja fidgeted under his gaze.

"This is Saja, friend of brother of Raphael. She came to take him back to brother and world his. Saja, this is Bren, medic. Show him Raphael's sai."

Sai? Oh, that's what his weapon is called. The girl pulled it out of her bag, and the medic's eyes flashed recognition as well.

He asked her a question, but Vesuva still wore Don's translator; it took both animals a moment to realize the cause; they smiled at their mistake, and then the fox bid both of them good night and handed over his device. I think… I think I'm on friendly terms with a leader. That's pretty rare for an exile hopping from world to world.

"Bring this from your world?" The raccoon said with a hint of a smile once he had clipped the unit on. "Ours work in an area."

"Raphael's brother Don made it. He said it was a… prototype? I do not know what a prototype is, but he was very excited when it worked." Saja's whole body longed to sit down, or preferably lie down. She gripped the red-handled sai still in her hand.

Bren nodded. "So technology perhaps less advanced there. Raphael did say something about brother Donnie being smart."

"From what I have seen, he is very smart."

"You not a friend of family?" The raccoon's expressive white eyebrows lifted.

"No, sir, but Don was very kind to me, and when his family was all captured right after I accidentally… came into his home, I realized where the enemy had sent Raphael, and I offered to find him."

"I see."

Can I see Raphael now? From her polite position frozen in the doorway, she couldn't make out which injured animal was a turtle, especially with the lights dimmer than the main room.

Bren chuckled softly, and Saja realized he had caught her lifting herself up on her toes slightly trying to pick out the turtle. "Come, he's over here."

Brown cheeks turning a bit pink, Saja followed the medic to the far end of the room and to the farthest cot on the right. There lay a limp turtle, his skin a deeper green than Don's, and his strange, tailed mask red rather than purple. A few medical things were attached to him, but otherwise he appeared merely deeply asleep.

Saja glanced behind herself, then sat down on the unoccupied cot with a thump. Don, I finally found your brother, she thought, as if she could send a message to him by thinking it hard enough. Is he a peaceful person? He looks peaceful. Maybe not, from the destruction and anger at that last Othila base. And apparently he knows how to fight. Oh. Speaking of fighting… On the near side of the cot stood a tiny square table, and on it, besides some mysterious medical things, lay a red-handled sai, as well as a slightly different black-handled one. Saja set down the one she carried beside its twin. There. She sighed and leaned back.

She looked up to find Bren eyeing her. "Is way to take him back to brother a door, or a machine?" He spoke softly for the benefit of those injured animals who might not be sleeping deeply as Raphael was.

Saja shook her head. "No, sir. I am a Jior, and I can travel to different worlds at will." He may be only the third being I've told I can travel, but it feels like I've told everyone. At the moment, just the thought of traveling filled her with weariness.

"Is this traveling… easy?"

No reason to lie. Be honest. "No, sir."

"Then lie down before you fall onto floor. Sleep. Drug still being flushed out of body his. He should wake in the morning." Bren pointed at the cot she sat on.

"I can sleep here? You don't want me somewhere else?"

"If wait any time more to sleep, you will need medical helping too. Sleep."

Saja's mind thought up other excuses, such as the fact that she hadn't eaten in quite some time, but her body didn't even feel hungry in its weariness. She kicked off her shoes, set her shoulder bag down on the floor, pulled back the sheet, and fell asleep even before the blanket fluttered down over her.