LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES
Fawn Temps, 235 years ago
"…And so I came to your world and declared myself your country's goddess."
"How did that work out?"
"Not well. As I said, that was almost a century ago, and as you can see, I am not your goddess."
"True."
Song Li's armored body was draped across a comfortable armchair made for creatures much smaller than her. The chair was set in a dimly-lit tavern, within the enormous and ancient stone castle that was the University of Fawn Temps. Her companion was a deer, a young buck with yellow eyes and a rather small pair of antlers.
"So, I've been starting at the bottom," Song Li continued, not looking at him. "Living among you. Trying to make my way as a contributing citizen of this country, in whatever way I can."
The deer leaned toward her. "Yeah? And how's that going?"
"Quite… dreadfully," said Song Li, her voice cracking. "Ninety-eight years I've been trying to work my way into your civilization… and I'm exactly where I started when I first arrived. I haven't had a job, or a roof over my head… I haven't made a single friend."
Her lips, though unseen, were clearly quivering as she continued. "I am making an attempt to change things now, by attending this university. Though I don't honestly expect it to make much of a difference. I'm too far removed from the norm, as much a misfit and outcast as I ever was in my own world. What could have possessed me to think that the solution was to inhabit a different world, one where I would be strange and foreign? Madness, plain and simple. I am nobody. And I have nothing."
Song Li's eyes welled up with tears, and she released a few ragged sobs. She breathed deeply and opened her eyes. "But… forgive me. I've been talking about myself for over ten minutes and I haven't even asked your name."
The deer smiled at her. "It's Tron."
"Tron?" Song Li repeated in alarm, facing him for the first time. "To my knowledge, no such name exists."
He laughed. "It's Terence, actually, but when I was little I couldn't pronounce it. So ever since I was two, I've introduced myself as 'Tron'."
Song Li nodded. "I understand. Erm…" She averted her eyes. "Such childish whimsy is rather alien to me, and causes me some discomfort. Forgive me if I insist on calling you Terence." She paused. "Of course, such a request assumes that you and I will have continued interaction after today… a distinct unlikelihood. Forgive me for being presumptuous."
Tron looked surprised. "Of course we'll still talk after today. You tell a heck of a story… and, well, I feel for you. Why would I want to stop speaking to you?"
"Everyone else has," she said softly.
Tron took a sip of his hot cider thoughtfully. "Where are you staying, Song Li?"
"The quad, I would assume," she said glumly. "It took a lifetime of panhandling to enable me to afford the entrance fee of this university. A place to live is, as it always has been, entirely out of the question. And when it comes to a place to sleep, the softness of grass is my only preference."
Tron shook his head and stood up. "I can't let you do that. Come with me."
"I'm sorry?" Song Li said in surprise.
"Just come on."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Tron led Song Li through the streets of Fawn Temps, wading through the fallen autumn leaves, which crackled beneath their hooves. Walking alongside one another, Tron was barely half as tall as Song Li's legs.
"So, where did you say you were from?" Tron said casually.
"The Sea of Stars."
"You called it an alien world," he said. "How alien are we talking?"
Song Li pondered how to answer, then decided to simply remove her mask. At her mental command, the dark green metal cap over her snout withdrew into nothingness, followed by the golden plates on her cheeks and the top of her head, and finally the lavender cowl that covered her ears and the rest of her face.
Her fur was fluffy and pale blue. Her ears were shaped like weathered stone arrowheads, and the fur on her muzzle was shaped to give her the appearance of having a hooked beak. She had three pairs of narrow, light brown eyes stacked on top of one another, of which only the middle pair had been visible through her mask.
"Does this answer your question?" she said solemnly.
Tron nodded. "That's pretty alien."
"Indeed." With a whirring sound, her mask reformed around her head. She sighed. "I made a promise that I would never reveal what was underneath my armor… but at this point, my promises mean nothing."
"Don't say that, Song Li," Tron chided. "Promises are important. Just don't do it again. Here we are."
He had stopped in front of a large house, square and symmetrical, clearly newly-built and newly-painted.
"Do you live here?" Song Li breathed.
"Yes," he said. "My… my father is Tyrannus, the patron of House di Vrec. He had this house built for me… just a temporary space for my university years, then we sell it off."
"You are most fortunate," Song Li commented.
"Don't remind me. Anyway, I've been looking for roommates… not out of necessity, just because I want something to be done with the five bedrooms the place has."
"Ah," Song Li said, nodding. "A golden opportunity to make a few lifelong best friends."
"That's what I'm hoping for," Tron said quietly. "I've got three guys settled in there. Come on in, let's meet them."
"As you wish," she said, puzzled.
She followed him into the house, crouching down to fit through the front door. The front room of the house contained an emerald green and royal blue area rug, a golden chandelier, shelves of vases and trophies, and an assortment of cushions around a massive wooden coffee table.
An elk sat on one of the cushions, staring blankly at a few items on the table.
"Hey, Dustin," said Tron.
The elk turned his green eyes, one bloodshot and one at half-mast, toward Tron and blew a puff of thick white smoke out of his mouth.
"Tron," he mumbled. "Nice to see ya. You wouldn't believe me if I told you how much I missed you."
"Well, I'm glad you can live without me, at any rate," said Tron, looking at the small objects on the table. "Whatcha got here?"
"Glad you asked," said Dustin. He scooped up a wrinkled brown mushroom in his hoof. "These mushrooms get your blood boiling, make you feel like you can take on anything. Never try to study without them, brother!" He popped the mushroom in his mouth and chewed on it as he continued speaking; it seemed to be surprisingly crunchy. "And these big pink berries? Sweet as candy, and much better on your teeth. And the euphoria…"
"Euphoria?" Tron said, raising an eyebrow.
"To say the least. And the surges of inspiration that flow from you when you keep eating these berries for maybe a day? The ideas, the concepts, your life will finally be completely on track… but you gotta write down your ideas while the berries are still in you. Otherwise you'll forget." He tapped a scrap of paper he had on the table's surface. "Of course, writing doesn't always work. This is totally illegible. All I remember is that it was the greatest idea I've ever had, but I'll never know what it was."
Tron tapped Dustin on the shoulder. "Well, maybe I'll look into that sometime in the future. But not today."
He returned to Song Li's side. "That's Dustin," he said softly. "I'm not entirely sure he even attends the university, but, well…"
"Hey, Tron?" Dustin interrupted. "Thanks again for letting me live here. You're like my hero, bro."
"…But he kind of grows on you," Tron finished with a little grin.
"Hey, Dusty, is that Tron?" said a rumbling baritone from another room.
"Yeah, I'm here, Boomchukka," Tron called. "What's up?"
A huge, bearded moose moved through a door that seemed to lead to a kitchen. He had to tilt his head to get his antlers through the door, and would have been as tall as Song Li if not for his hunched-over posture.
"Listen, do you think I could take the room on the first floor instead?" the moose asked. "It's got the only door in this house I can, you know, fit through."
Tron smiled. "Sure thing. Whatever you need."
The moose gazed up at Song Li in surprise. "Hey, ain't you that immortal pony who's been wandering around the country since, like, a century ago?"
"I am Song Li," she replied, looking away from him sharply. "A wayward immortal, to be sure, but I have never claimed to be a pony."
"Well, how about that?" the moose muttered. He approached and shook her hoof. "They call me Boomchukka—the 'drums of war'. Just enrolled at the bard college here."
"…Boomchukka?" Song Li repeated nervously.
"Ah, yeah, Song Li's not so fond of nicknames," Tron said hastily. "I don't suppose you have a real name she could call you by?"
"…No," Boomchukka said flatly. "I'm a bard, Boomchukka's my bard name."
"I… couldn't possibly call you that," Song Li said, suppressing giggles. "But it's an honor to meet you."
On the right side of the living room was a large staircase; a pale gray caribou trotted down the steps. He had shiny black antlers, and a small third horn in the center of his forehead. He brushed past Song Li dismissively.
"Tron, my man!" he declared. "I've just officially moved myself in. This is it, buddy-boy. My university days will be the time I achieve my lifelong dream!"
"I believe it," Tron said sincerely. "Song Li, this is Airball. His family works for mine; we've been friends for ages. He's devoted his life to proving that caribou can fly, as they could in our ancient legends."
"Now, see, I thought that was reindeer…" Boomchukka said dryly.
"Same thing," Airball said irritably.
"Are ya sure?"
"Indeed, reindeer and caribou are separate names for a single species," Song Li supplied.
"Yes, thank you," Airball said, nodding to her rapidly. "Song Li, right? Hey, you can fly, can't you? By shooting jets out of the bottoms of your hooves?"
"Erm, yes, but don't rely too heavily on that knowledge," Song Li said nervously, planting her hooves on the ground and staring at them. "It's part of my armor, not of me, and the magic caribou of your folklore flew unpropelled."
"Yeah, I know," Airball sighed. "Thanks for shooting straight with me, anyway. I'll work it out someday."
Dustin looked up from his dubious food items and did a double-take at Song Li. "Whoa! How long has she been standing there?"
Tron rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Well, now that I've got all three of you here, I have an announcement. Song Li here will be taking our fifth room."
"What?" she said in alarm.
He touched her hoof gently with his own and craned his neck to look up at her. "Song Li… I know we just met, but I can't let you live in the courtyard. I know I can't save everyone whose life has fallen apart, but I can save you. Is everybody okay with this?"
The other three muttered their general assent.
"I… thank you, Terence," said Song Li. "I am in your debt."
He smiled. "Friendship doesn't produce debt."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Song Li stood alone in the bedroom Tron had given her. After making sure the door was locked and her window blinds closed, she concentrated hard, and her entire suit of armor vanished.
Her body was fluffy and largely featureless, and much thinner than her armor made her appear. She stretched and flexed, then pulled aside the blankets of her bed.
"My goodness…" she muttered. "A real bed… I never thought I'd see such a thing."
She sank into the soft mattress, her head on the pillow and her blanket pulled in as tightly as possible. One tear dripped from each of her six eyes.
"This could work," she whispered. "It will not be long before my new friends tire of me… but for now… yes. I shall love them and allow them to think that they like me… I shall embrace this life."