Tellion couldn't break her gaze from the mushy contents that trembled in front of her face. Never before in her entire life had she ever desired something as much as this, and she couldn't understand why. Food was not supposed to have this much hold over her. All it was supposed to be was the fuel that made whatever body she was inhabiting continue to function. But not this stuff. It was different. There was just…something about this food…
It was almost as if the edible goop was calling out to her. Begging Tellion to consume it. To let it flood into her stomach cavity, be absorbed by her host, and have its very essence flow through Susan's body, into her brain, and flow into Tellion's own body. She always received minor exchange of nutrients when her control tendrils were conntected to a host's brain. She had never really put any more thought to it than any creature put into breathing, but this time it was so different.
Tellion couldn't remember if she had ever wanted anything more than this exchange in her whole life.
Barely aware of Mark's smiling face, Tellion opened her mouth and led the shaking spoon towards her saliva filled maw. This…this was surely to be a blissful experience. What else could it possibly be?
NO!
The word echoed all through the room, pressing down all around Susan's body and piercing through it, the full weight of those two letters speared into Tellion's own body. She instantly recognized that voice. It almost commanded her to cease her attempt to consume the goop held in her shakey hand. And Tellion answered it. The spoon halted just millimeters from her opened mouth.
Mark frowned. "Something wrong?"
But Tellion didn't acknowledge that he even spoke to her. Her eyes went wide from the voice.
You… she said in her own head.
Don't eat it.
But…the smell…
You musn't eat it, Tellion. Your life depends on it. So does Mark's.
Mark? What does Mark have to do with this food?
I can't tell you anymore that what has already been said. And it's cost me so much just to speak to you now. I won't be able to do so again, not until after…
After what? Tellion demanded. What are you talking about?
I've already told you too much. The voice said, its volume clearly growning fainter, returning to wherever it was that it had originally come from. Don't eat the Ginger Maple oatmeal. Ever. Not unless you want to lose all that you have just gained. And prepare yourself for what is to come. I…have faith in you.
What's coming? Tellion demanded. What are you talking about?
There was no further answer to the questions that only served to make Tellion even more confused than she already was. And with that, the voice was gone once more. Tellion wildly looked around, already knowing that it was foolish to search for what had been speaking to her. The voice had no body, or at least one that it had yet to reveal to her.
A snapping of fingers in front of her face brought Tellion back to the moment. She turned her bewildered eyes to Mark, who was already looking at her with that familiar concern in his eyes. He spoke to her, in words that she still did not understand. Tellion barely heard him, even though he was right next to her. Her eyes darted back to the spoon that was in her unsteady hands. The alluring smells were still there, assaulting all of her senses.
Then she remembered the warning.
Tellion instantly plunged the spoon into the bowl and handed it back to Mark, least she loose her last bit of willpower to keep herself from eating whatever that substance was. Even as Mark looked at her with confusion, Tellion scooted to the other side of the bed, making it non-verbally clear that she did not desire the contents. But also, she wanted to get as far away from those intoxicating smells as she could. She didn't know how much longer she could keep control over herself.
"You…don't want it?" he asked, the sadness clearly evident in his voice.
Tellion shook her head furiously, reassuring him that she did indeed not want it. She hated to see the look that came over him as his head lowered, it made her insides feel like they were twisting and contorting from seeing him like. And also knowing that it was she that made him act that way only made those feelings worse. Tellion wished that she could really communicate with Mark, to make him understand that she wasn't in any way rejecting his attempts to please her. But she very much doubted that he would understand that she was following advice from voice that didn't have a body to match it. Even among Yeerks, that would be an understanding for having a sickness of the mind.
Yet, as quick as Mark's sorrow appeared on his face, it vanished just as fast. He looked at Tellion and gave her that comforting smile once more. The one that made her throat tighten and her heart beat faster.
"Ok. I guess it was silly to think that you would just like it just because of…well never mind. I can make something else. Do you want me to?"
Tellion could only guess that he was offering her something else to consume, so she gave him a quick nod. Mark's smile broadened.
"Ok then, I'll see what the master chief can whip up." He started to leave the room, but stopped at the doorway and looked back at her.
"Never really did like this stuff." he said, pointing at the bowl in his hands. "But I'll eat it anyway. Won't be sorry to not have to get anymore once this is gone. You just stay in bed and relax. I'll be back up before you know it."
And with that, he was gone. She still didn't know all those words he had spoken, but Tellion had already learned what 'you' and 'stay' and 'bed' meant. She could only summarize that Mark intended for her to remain laid out on the bed, or at least in the room, and do nothing but wait for him to return. Tellion had to admit, having the ability to just lay around and do nothing was surprisingly desirable to her. Still, despite the comfort of the bed, comfort that was so alien to Tellion's experience, and she just couldn't forget how the smell of that substance had enticed her so much. Tellion felt her new body bristling with energy, a sort of restlessness that she couldn't shake herself from. Hopping off of the bed, Tellion began to walk about the interior of the room and started to both observe and make note of everything that was within the four walled space.
There were so many things everywhere. Small wooden boxes variously placed around the room, with all kinds of odd assortments of little things placed on top of them. Tellion inspected each of the wooden boxes, pulling out the shelves to see what was inside. All Tellion found was large clumps of mixed clothing. Some looked familiar to the kind that she was still wearing, others appeared to be larger and more suited for Mark. So it seemed that the sleeping area also doubled as the garment storing quarters. Tellion guessed that made sense, but in truth she was still having trouble understanding clothing all together.
Still, Tellion was willing to focus all of her thoughts on all the things that were around her, anything that would help her forget whatever that sweet smelling substance was that the voice had warned her about. But she just couldn't shake away the alluring hold that those smells had on her nostrils. She looked out the window in a desperate bid to do just forget it. When she stepped over to the window, and saw what lay beyond, it did indeed make Tellion forget. Forget about that intoxicating substance, about her escape from the Empire, even that she was a Yeerk inhabiting a native female's body.
Just for a moment.
The bright blue sky, the white puffy clouds drifting through the air, the bristling green saturated foliage everywhere…left Tellion stunned. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the scope of it all. This world…she had never realized just how amazing it was. Oh how Tellion wished that she had this kind of sight when she had been stationed up on the Pool Ship. To think of what the planet must have looked like from that high up in space…
There were no real words that Tellion knew of to describe what she was seeing. Beautiful, maybe. But that didn't seem grand enough of a statement to place upon the sheer encompassing image of this world. She turned away from the window, knowing that the scale of the sights were too much for her to handle for the moment. As she did, Tellion noticed something odd resting on one of the smaller boxes next to the bed.
Unable to help herself, in fact even felling drawn to it, she walked over and picked up the tiny object. And instantly wished that she hadn't. Resting in her trembling hands…was a frozen image of her and Mark. They were wearing outfits completely different that the kind that she was currently clothed in and the kind that she had seen Mark wearing. Tellion couldn't help but feel herself being mesmerized by observe every last little detail of this image.
The garments she was wearing had given her an almost other worldly apparatus of divinity. Strange that a completely plain and white outfit could do that, but it did. There was some kind of transparent material that she had over her head that had been pulled back, but it completely extenuated the facial features to look even more stunning. And the face was one that Tellion knew that she would never forget for the rest of her days. Because it was so bright and happy, the smile was one of the most sincere ones that Tellion had ever seen. So vibrant, so full of life, so full of joy. None of the things that Tellion had ever known of in her own life.
Unable to help herself, Tellion tranced the tips of her fingers across the still image of that face. She almost felt as if in that moment, that she could reach across space and time, and connect herself to Susan in a way that she was completely unable to in the present state. Staring down at that image, Tellion felt her eyes momentarily shift over to the image of Mark. His face was equally bright and joyful as Susan's, just how he had appeared ever since Tellion had first met him. And it was truly because both Mark and Susan were looking deeply at each other in that captured moment, as if they were seeing beyond the flesh that was before them and peering into something deeper that lay within, something that Tellion didn't understand. Seeing that only made Tellion grip the edges of the wooden frame that surrounded the frozen image tightly. A sad, weary sigh escaped her lips as she quickly turned the image back face down. And a few tear drops fell from her face as the truth hit deep within Tellion's spirit.
That image, that moment, those emotions forever captured and frozen in time…that wasn't her. She wasn't that native. She hadn't worn that magnificent outfit, she hadn't given that smile that day, she hadn't held Mark that way either. She hadn't stared into his eyes with look that was seeing beyond the physical. She hadn't done any of that. It had all been Susan's life, not hers.
She had no memory of that moment. Nor any of Susan's life. Tellion had nothing. It was just like that mysterious, creepy voice from her dream had told her. She had stolen this life from Susan, and was now pretending to be something, and someone, that she just wasn't. She was still a thief of life that she didn't deserve.
No! Tellion shouted internally to herself. That's not who I am!
She looked up from the overturned image and glanced around the room.
She was a Yeerk, but she was not like that. She was not a thief, or a conqueror. And she certainly wasn't a slave master, not anymore. Tellion vowed to herself that no matter how long it took her, or how deep she had to delve into this mind she was connected to, she would find Susan. She would find where ever it was that Susan was lost in her own mind, rescue her, and bring her back to her beloved Mark. Even if Susan were to never forgive Tellion for the time that she stole with Mark, Tellion would understand that. And if she had to reduce herself to forever leaving this body in order to gain attonement for that, Tellion would willingly embrace that fate if it meant that she could reunite the two of them. For if Tellion had ever known of two beings that belonged together, it was Susan and Mark.
Tellion sat in a nearby chair, took a deep breath, and shut her eyes. She then detached all of her control tendrils that connected to the sensory parts of Susan's mind. Once all ocular and other sensory distractions had been eliminated from her thought process, Tellion began to send out hundreds of electrical pulses into Susan's brain. They hadn't worked before, but she also hadn't been really trying to look for Susan. She had been so mesmerized by the entire experiences of last night that the thought hadn't truly occurred to her to really try. Now she was on a mission of the utmost conviction of her conscious.
She was going to find Susan.
As the multitude of electrical pulses shot out in their almost endless waves, Tellion waited and observed each one that rippled back to her. Each time she felt that residual wave of pulses, she hoped that there would be something that would echo back. A faint, even microscopic ripple of a response would make her jump with jubilation. But as wave after wave came back to her, with nothing but her own impulses, Tellion felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into a pit of despair. Again and again, emptiness was her response, and it only added to Tellion's growing sorrow.
After what felt like the hundred thousandth time she sent out her search pulse, with nothing to respond to her, she reconnected her control tendrils to the brain's sensory nerves. Tellion's eyes shot open. A high pitched, barely audible cry passed her mouth as she lightly hit the side of her head.
Why? Why couldn't she find Susan? What was wrong with her brain so that she couldn't speak to her? What was wrong with HER?
With so many questions, and no apparent answers, Tellion's head fell into her hands in complete despair. Unable to control herself, Tellion began to weep at her utter failure. She felt so lost and alone in that moment, much like Susan was likely feeling as well. If only she could just find her, then Tellion was sure that everything would somehow right itself within her life, as well as Susan's.
The sounds of approaching footsteps brought Tellion out of her sad state. She quickly whipped away her tears as Mark opened the door. Despite her immense guilt, Tellion knew that she had to keep the illusion up that she was Susan, least she put both of them and Mark in unnecessary danger. Mark's face appeared to brighten when he saw that she was out of the bed, similar to how it had been in that picture…
"Ready for breakfast?" he asked.
Tellion just nodded, not fully sure what 'breakfast' was. She was absolutely aware of how her chest tightened when he took her hand and pulled her up out of the chair. Unable to really think in the next moment, Tellion just let Mark led her out of the room, through a small hallway, down a flight of stairs, and into a room that she had yet to see in this dwelling. But its interior was not the first thing that Tellion noticed. It was the smells.
The odors that lingered in the air were not nearly as potent as the ones that had assaulted her senses from that bowl of mush called oatmeal, but they made her stomach rumble. She wondered just how long it had been since Susan had really eaten.
Mark brought her over to a round table with a thin layer of glass that had some kind of covers, similar to the kind that had been over the window in the bedroom, that went over that were pulled back. This allowed Tellion to look at the world that lay just beyond that puny layer of fabricated sand. But she did her best to ignore what lay beyond, just because she knew how distracting it all was. She saw a round object resting on the surface of the table, with various things placed in its center.
"It's a plate." Mark said, pointing at the circular object.
"Plate." Tellion repeated as she sat down in front of the 'plate'.
Mark picked up two metal objects and showed them two her. Tellion was easily able to identify the knife when Mark said the word. Knives were very common in the Empire, especially among the lower ranking officers that didn't have Hork-Bajir bodies. The other he called a fork, which seemed like a silly name to Tellion for something the appeared to be a miniature spear. But she was in his world now, not hers. And she needed to pay attention to everything that he was telling her. The sooner she learned how to communicate with him, the easier both of their lives would be.
She didn't resist when he stepped behind her and took Tellion's hands in his own. She just sat there, with her heart pounding once again against her rib cage, as he moved her hands in motions to hold and cut and scoop and spear the apparent food that was before her. Mark called it eggs, bacon, and toast. Tellion had a very hard time understanding which was which, but the smells that filled her nostrils made such a thing a moot point to Tellion.
She speared a small portion of the semi-solid substance that she thought Mark called 'eggs' and with a bit of careful and cautious movement, she placed them in her mouth. And her world was once again transformed in a way that Tellion could have never, ever expected. Her mouth, especially her tongue, was assaulted with a multitude of sensations that made her entire jaw quiver with delight.
Some kind of noise came from Tellion as she rapidly chewed the substance in her mouth, so much so that a few bits of it fell out and back on to the plate.
"Hey silly." Mark said, taking a thin material and whipping it across her mouth, which both got rid of the bits of food she had lost and sent a great tremor throughout her body. "You got to chew with your mouth closed. Like this."
She watched him chew with his lips closed. It seemed pointless to her to take such care to keep ones mouth closed just to eat, but it did seem proper native edicate to eat like that. Tellion closed her lips and continued chewing the way Mark had shown her. Doing that proved harder than Tellion had first thought. The sensations that were exploding all through the insides of her mouth were driving Tellion to the point of near jubilation. She was almost disappointed when she had to finally swallow the eggs.
The instant she had though, Tellion almost attacked the remaining food laid out before her. Scoop after joyous scoop she continued to revel in the amazing experience of what native food was doing to her mouth. Mark appeared happy by the way she almost ravenously ate what was on the plate.
"Like the taste huh?" he asked.
Tellion looked up at him, clearly showing him that she didn't understand what he had said to her. Mark patted his lips and repeated 'taste'. It only took her a moment to realize that 'taste' meant the wonderful sensations that were exploding all through her mouth. She smiled at him, patting her own lips in response.
"Like taste." she told him.
"I'm glad to know that." he said. "I never really was much of a chief."
He took the plate away from her once she had finished, over to an area with a sink, and began running water over it. Tellion watched as he took something and scrubbed vigorously across its surface. Tellion continued watching him as he worked, finally understanding that he was cleaning off what little traces of food she had left on the plate. Again, Tellion observed him and remembered his actions. No matter how trivial, she had to understand every part of what it meant to be a native if she wanted to keep the truth of who she was hidden.
Mark noticed her watching him. He weakly shrugged his shoulders. "Not much of an entertaining show, is it?"
Tellion mimicked his action by shrugging her own shoulders, also wishing that she knew what that action meant. Mark didn't seem to really care, because he walked over to Tellion and pulled her up from the chair. He nervously, and cautiously, placed his arms around Tellion and pulled her close to him. She didn't offer any resistance to his action. Mark encasing his arms around her was something that Tellion was starting to really come to enjoy. And she had only known him for less than a day.
Even as she enjoyed Mark's display of care for her, deep within her own mind Tellion couldn't shake that familiar sting of guilt that had yet to fade from her spirit. Again, she knew that Mark thought he was doing these things, and acting the way he did, for Susan, not really for her. Despite knowing that, Tellion tried to convince herself that her actions, her willingness to continue to pass herself off as Susan, were justified.
I'm not going to do this forever. She spoke with total assurance of her intentions. I'm just doing this until I can find you Susan. It's just better for Mark to not think something is wrong. Once I rescue you, I'll reunite you with Mark…and then I'll never get between you two ever again. I promise.
Yes. That was exactly what she would do, Tellion reaffirmed herself. Despite what that hideous voice from her 'dream' had proclaimed, they didn't know Tellion. Or her true desires. She was not a thief or a slave master, not anymore. She was merely protecting Susan and Mark's lives that they had clearly formed in the time since before she had been made aware of them. And she would bring them together again, somehow. And of course, she would leave them to whatever lives they had been living since before she entered Susan once that happened.
But then why did she feel something else from this proclamation to herself? Why was there…sadness that seeped into her spirit at the thought of separating herself from the two of them? No, not really them. Just Mark. Why was she feeling a sense of sorrow at the thought of bringing Susan back to her beloved Mark, and leaving them to their happy and peaceful lives together? It was what she believed was the right thing to do, and yet the thought of not being around Mark caused a sense of emptiness in Tellion and grief.
Oh dammit, she thought. Why is this all so confusing?
Nothing felt like the right choice to her anymore. No matter what she seemed to do, Tellion would suffer such great emotional pain. It was different than the kind of emotion pain that she felt when she had finally come to understand what she had done to Tallaxia, and how much it hurt for Tellion to finally part ways with her. But Tellion just somehow sensed that these new sensations would hurt her spirit just as much, if not more.
As she pondered this, a sort of alarm rang all through the dwelling. It was a single tone, low and very non-threatening. Much different than the bellowing sirens that went off in the Yeerk Pool when danger was near. But it was still enough to startle Tellion and make her jump out of Mark's arms.
Tellion only had to take one look at Mark's face to know that he was just as surprised by the alarm as well. He opened his mouth to speak, but the alarm rang again. And again. And again.
"What the…" he muttered to himself as he exited the room.
Tellion cautiously followed him, stopping at the doorway to keep herself half hidden from view.
Who could that be? She thought with worry. Had the…had the Yeerk hunter squads found her?
The hunter squads were groups of Yeerks that specialized in intelligence and suppression efforts, on any world that the Empire operated on. Their skills at finding any supposed Yeerk traitors or hosts that had managed to escape enslavement were only surpassed by their ruthlessness. They were the Yeerks that would destroy anything, and anyone, in order to protect the plans of the Empire. And upon this world the Empire's ultimate goal was to avoid discovery by the natives of the invasion until it was too late.
If any Yeerk had bothered after the Andalite attack to really look into what had happened, then they might have realized that a single Yeerk had been taken from the pool before the destruction of the Yeerk Pool. And if they were able to link that event to what Mark had called a 'miracle' of Susan's unexpected recovery, then that might mean…
No, Mark. Tellion thought to herself, fighting with all her willpower to not scream her warnings to him in her Gedd/Yeerk tongue. Don't open the door. They'll kill you or worse.
"NO!" she screamed at him as loudly as her voice would let her.
Mark turned to her, his face full of bewilderment. And it was in that same moment that he opened the door. And a in the next instant group of bodies pushed past him and into the dwelling.
Tellion instantly retreated into the room, both out of terror at what was about to happen to her, but also because she couldn't bring herself to see what would happen to Mark. He was about to die, or forever lose himself as a prisoner in his own body to a Yeerk. And it was her fault.
It was all her fault.
NO! She couldn't let that happen to him. She wouldn't! He meant…well, Tellion didn't really know what Mark really meant to her. Only that she care for him more than she had ever felt herself care for another being. Even Aftran. Even Tallaxia. She would save him!
Tellion desperately searched the room for some kind of weapon. Anything that she could use to protect Mark. She spotted some kind of metal object hanging from a hook on nearby on the wall and grasped it. Before she thought or even realized what she was doing, Tellion rushed into the room with the improvised weapon. What she saw made her instantly stop.
Mark was not fighting with the three natives that had stormed into the dwelling. Instead he was speaking rapidly to them, making gestures that she hadn't seen before and didn't know what they meant. The three natives were speaking to him in equally rapid words, making similar gestures. Then they turned their attention in her direction. Tellion saw their faces go from shocked to an expression similar to the kind Mark had displayed the previous night when he had first seen her up and moving in that healing center.
"Susan!" they all shouted in unison, rushing towards her.
Tellion had a fleeting thought of lifting the metal object she was carrying in a desperate attempt to defend herself, but they were upon her before she could act.
The two at the front appeared older, yet they reached her first, and threw their arms around her. They squeezed her tightly, just like Mark had done so many times already. They also pressed their lips several times on her cheeks and at various spaces on her head. They were not like the long, drawn out one that Mark had done on their first encounter, but rather quick and rapid pecks. As Tellion reeled from the unexpected onslaught of affection from the two natives, they stepped aside so Tellion could see the third one approach.
This native was smaller than the other two, but not by much. And clearly a female just like Susan. Tellion calculated this native to be roughly two thirds her host's size, which made her younger. She also noticed a few similarities in her looks and the ones Tellion had seen in Susan when Tellion had looked at herself in the mirror. Same skin tone, roughly the same body shape. Her chest also wasn't as noticeable as Susan's, but Tellion could only guess that was due to her being younger. Tellion did instantly notice was that her hair was not the dark red hue that Susan had. It was more of a brown colored tone. The one thing that she also recognized was that her eyes were the same color as Susan's. Almost an exact match. It gave Tellion the impression that she was staring into a reflection of her own eyes.
"Suzie?" she spoke weakly, almost hesitant to move closer to her. "Is it…is it really you?"
Tellion didn't know what the words meant, or what a 'Suzie' was. She didn't know why, but her head bobbed at the question. And the smaller native cried out 'Suzie' again and threw her arms around Tellion's neck.
"I'm…I'm so glad you're back!" She cried into Tellion's shoulder. "I thought…"
Her smaller head twisted up to look Tellion directly in the face. "I thought you were gone forever…big sis."
Suzie. Big sis. What were these words? What did they mean to her host Susan? Tellion just didn't understand any of this.
Then it all hit her in that next moment as if she had been smacked with Visser Three's tail blade. From the memories that she had obtained from Tallaxia, the ones before she lost her freedom to the Empire, were similar to what she was seeing in these three natives. They were…Susan's family.
Then the two older ones who kept speaking to her as she looked at them, both speaking too quickly for Tellion to decipher the words, must have been Susan's parents. And the younger one was Susan's sibling.
Parents and siblings. Such a strange, alien concept to Tellion. Yes, she did have hundreds of brood brothers and sisters, but there was nothing in the way of any kind of bond between her and any of them. They all acknowledged that they all came from the death of the three Yeerks that birthed them, but that was where their connection with each other really ended. Tellion had never interacted, or even really spoken to any of the members of her brood since her first day of self-awareness. The kinds of bonds that existed between Tallaxia and her family, as well as Susan's, were things that Yeerks knew very little of.
But here, seeing the absolute affection that these three were displaying to her, it made Tellion momentarily feel remorse for not trying to bond with her mutual genetic kin. Maybe if she had dared to do something different than other Yeerks had always done earlier in her life, then she might not have felt so alone until the day she had met Aftran. Yet, what if's were pointless in her way of thinking. She couldn't reverse time and undo the mistakes of her past, she could only learn from them and better herself as she moved forward into the future.
As she thought of this strange contemplation, Mark pushed himself between her and Susan's family. He looked at her with a strange expression that appeared to be humorous, at least that's what she thought it meant.
"Susan," he said with a smile that revealed a bit of his teeth as he grasped the metal object from her hand, "what the heck were you planning on doing with this egg beater?"
Tellion didn't know what an 'egg beater' was, but judging by all of their reactions, Tellion could only guess that it such a non-threatening item that it was considered by them to be silly to even be considered as a weapon.
Mark turned his attention to Susan's family as Tellion backed away slightly.
"Linda, Arthur." he said, addressing directly the two older natives. "I really wished you had called before coming over. I could have given you some warning…"
"We heard about the shooting at the hospital." The male named Arthur said. "Something about a crazed drug nut rampaging through the building. I heard on the news this morning that the police cornered him in a building not far away and killed him in a shootout."
"We called the hospital to see if Susan was alright." The one called Linda said. "They told us that she had miraculously woke up and that you had checked her out last night."
"Yes, but…" Mark tried to say.
"How could you not tell us that our baby was back!?" Linda exclaimed, putting her arm around a very nervous Tellion.
"I really am sorry about this mom." he said. "But there's something that you need to know…"
Mark pulled Susan's parents away and began to speak to them in a low voice. Again, Tellion didn't understand why he did that. She didn't understand hardly any of their words, so it was pointless to act like they needed to speak where she couldn't hear them. When they had pulled away, the younger one moved closer to her.
"Suzie?" she said, staring at her with a look that was so strangely similar to the kind that Mark had given her the other night when they first met. "Don't you…don't you know who I am?"
Tellion didn't know the exact words, but the question was similar to the one Mark had asked Tellion after he had pressed his lips against hers. She was asking if Tellion understood who this sibling was. It pained Tellion so much to shake her head from side to side in that next instant, and see the obvious sorrow appear on the younger native's face from her response.
Even though there was sadness on her face, she still didn't hesitate to approach Tellion. "It's me, Ellaine. Your little sister."
"Sss…siiisss…ttteerrrr." Tellion mouthed the word, trying it out while also attempting to understand it. It felt like a strange word, yet it also felt very natural to speak it to her. "Sister."
Ellaine smiled. "Yeah. That's right."
She lightly patted Tellion's chest right above where she felt the heart was. "You." Ellaine said, then also patted her chest. "Me. Sisters."
So, 'you' meant referring to the individual opposite to them when a native was speaking to another, and 'me' meant when they were referring to themselves. Tellion made a quick metal note to process and remember that understanding. And clearly 'sister' was the family bond between siblings when they were both female. That's what Tellion hoped that she understood it meant.
Ellaine encased both of her smaller hands over Tellion's, her eyes shined with a sort of look that Tellion could only believe meant hope.
"You and me," Ellaine said with a bright smile. "Sisters forever. Nothing's ever going to change that."
Tellion didn't know what to do in that moment except smile back at her. She truly didn't understand this bond that Ellaine clearly felt for Susan, but in that instant, Tellion felt something. A connection of sorts, no that she herself had never really felt before. It was a forming of a bridge of emotion between her and Susan's sister Ellaine. She wasn't truly Susan, but that didn't matter to her, not now. Not with what Tellion herself was feeling. It was both a sensation of longing, and a discovery of kindred that she had never known of.
As she became immersed in that feeling, Mark came back with Linda and Arthur. It caused Ellaine to let go of her hands and back away slightly.
"Mark, you should have told us." Linda said to him before looking sadly at Tellion. "She doesn't remember anything?"
"No." Mark replied, letting a slow breath escape from his mouth. His tone came off as sad. "She doesn't have any memory of me, or any of you."
Arthur made a low grunt from behind his clenched lips. "Damn those stupid kids!"
He faced Mark, completely unaware that Tellion was watching him, even though she didn't understand his words. "Did they ever find any of them?"
Mark made a face and shook his head. "No dad, no one ever figured out who they were. And the police say that they haven't found any leads, I think it's going to go cold pretty soon."
Arther glanced once over his shoulder at Tellion before looking back to Mark.
"Well they shouldn't just stop looking! Not with what they caused." Arthur clenched his hands into fists in a clear display of anger. "Kids setting of a bunch of fireworks in construction zone is bad enough. But what it caused…"
"Believe me Art, I wish more than anyone that Susan hadn't been driving past that construction zone that night. But she was, and we just have to accept that's what caused her to lose control and smash into that light pole."
"Mark! Arthur!" Linda said in a loud voice to the both of them. "Stop talking like she's gone! She's right here in front of us, even if…"
Linda walked right in front of Tellion, staring straight into her eyes. She wasn't sure what Linda was looking for, but it strangely reminded Tellion of when she had looked into Susan's face the other night in that mirror. She was searching for something, some trace of recognition in her. After several long moments, Linda weakly placed her hand on the side of Tellion's face.
"Oh Susan," she blinked several times as small trickles of tears rolled down the sides of her face. "My baby…"
She pulled Tellion close to her, tightly wrapping her arms around Tellion. Her grip wasn't as strong as Mark's, but Tellion felt no less passion in her actions than his.
So, Tellion thought, is this the bond of a mother and child?
It must be.
She hadn't ever experienced anything else like this in her life. It was comforting. Not the way she felt with Mark, but it was very powerful. But it also made Tellion feel something else. A sense of longing, a yearning for the kind of affection that Susan had clearly experienced her whole life, since before whatever it was that had happened that made her this way. Family bonds, the bonds that Mark and Susan had. Also the kind that Susan must have had with her younger sister Ellaine. There must have been some understanding, some phrase, or even a word to explain all of this cataclysmic sensations that were exploding all through Susan's body, and even in Tellion herself, from her interactions with Mark and Susan's family.
And yet, there wasn't one in any of Yeerk history or culture that Tellion knew of. None of her kind knew of these things. It was just all so alien to her people, and even her. And again, it made Tellion incredibly sad for herself, and all of her kind. To think that all of these wondrous emotions and sensations existed in the cosmos, and they had never truly been aware of them. If…if just desiring to experience these sensations were reasons why Yeerks had sought out various hosts, Tellion could have almost found herself sympathizing with her people's desire to become more than they had always been. But not how they were doing it. Not through forceful conquest, enslavement, and utter destruction of entire planets of innocent beings. If only they had tried to seek out hosts that would have let them exist inside of them, and had never tried to forcefully control them, or sought some other kind of path to lead to that higher state of being.
They could have become so much more than what made themselves into.
But Tellion had no more time to dwell on that as Susan's female parent Linda looked at her face and began speaking to her.
"I don't care if you don't remember me sweetie." Linda said through her tears, breaking Tellion's concentration. "I'm still your mother. Nothing in all this world will ever change that."
"Mo…mootthhh…eerrrrr." Tellion mimicked the word, finding it somehow fitting her speech pattern. Her response only seemed to make Linda's eyes shine brighter. Tellion instantly recognized the look of hope from her prior interactions with Mark.
Before Tellion could say anything or object, Susan's male parent Arthur approached and placed his powerful arms around her too.
"It's going to be alright honey." he said to her. "No matter how long it takes, we'll always be here for you until you're well again."
Then Ellaine came and joined them. So did Mark. Tellion could do nothing except remain motionless as all four of them surrounded her and showered her with the most affection that Tellion had ever known in her entire life. And it was affection that Tellion truly believed that she didn't deserve.
Which only made her desire to find Susan so much greater than it had ever been.