[Veltzeh]: 39.PlanetSide: Tzhagane.Chapter 3: Conflicts

     Zhaanno and Theri had been planning on having children in the near future, as soon as Zhaanno would be mature enough. Now their plans had been postponed somewhat, as Theri would be the first one to be tested with artificial wing implants.
     Centuries ago, the medical experts had managed in performing the first wing transplantation. A few years ago, the technomedical expert teams had succeeded in implanting artificial wings on a tzhagane's back, but at that stage they were yet not designed to work. The reason was that the tzhagane originally had not had wings, and they would of course need to build the nerves to control the wings. Thus, when they were going to seriously try implanting the artificial wings, they would need someone who had lost eir wings. It was Theri's chance.
     In many ways, Theri was an ideal object for the experiment. Ey was strong both physically and mentally, would need the wings but would also be replaceable if something went wrong. The only downside was that it had already been quite some time since ey had lost eir wings. It would take very long before ey would be able to use them efficiently.
     Kale was the odd bird of the family. Ey was intelligent, strong and capable of almost anything except social commitment. Ey replaced eir inability in that area by being over-protective about eir family, which was also why ey lived with Zhaanno. Eir two other siblings had died earlier, and ey blamed emself for their deaths. Ey could have saved them if ey had been good enough. When Zhaanno was the only one of eir siblings still left, Kale could not ever leave em from eir sight. Even though ey often could not stand Theri, with whom Zhaanno had fallen in love with, near em, ey was able to put up with it because of Zhaanno. Eventually even they became closer.
     However, things were soon going to change for Kale.
     
     Approximately forty days after they had visited the mining site, Kale received a written message from Tzheigeri. Kale had been doing stuff ey usually did when there were no special cases like the boulder, like studying the vibrations of the ground.
     The printed-out message read:
     
     Greetings, young Kale.
     You impressed me with your skills and intelligence back at the mining site while you were there. You are very skilled and have a lot of potential, and I would like to congratulate you. Please also tell Raqeidan and your team that we haven't been successful with the strange boulder, but that we will be ready to continue with it after the winter, with your guidance.
     From one issue to another, your parent told me about you back then. My first impression was that you were much like my own child Geariyo, but I soon noticed that was not the case. However, I think that you might like em. Ey began as a metal miner like many others who are born here, but ey was more interested in the theory and science, like you, I assume. As ey is currently without a job and applying to the school of science, I thought I could just as well send em to visit you. Ey could also use a place to stay there near the ocean.
     Geariyo will be yours now. Please, take care of em. Ey should arrive there on the 329th.
     
     Tzheigeri
     
     Kale was nothing more but confused. Why was Tzheigeri doing this? Kale did not really have time for any extra activities like this. On the other hand, it would probably not hurt to have another person assist in the chores.
     However, Kale was rather nervous about Geariyo coming. Ey could guess why Raqeidan had talked to Tzheigeri about em and why Tzheigeri had sent eir child precisely to Kale. Of course Kale did not have anything to say to it, but a newcomer – whether ey be this kid or someone else –- would be rather difficult to handle.
     
     After two days, Geariyo arrived. Kale saw em flying toward their cave from the east. Geariyo was almost as dark as eir parent was and otherwise also rather similar. Ey was still smaller though, and as of now, ey seemed to be as tall as Kale. Kale looked at Geariyo's clothing. It was very strange, nothing like what those who lived near the ocean had and quite different from the miners' clothes also.
     "Hello!" yelled Geariyo.
     "Hello." Ey landed on the rock Kale was standing on. They scanned each other, visually and telepathically. Geariyo looked like ey had been through many hardships. Eir ears were ripped, ey had many scars on eir body and face, and ey only had three fingers on eir left hand. Ey was smaller than Kale. The patterns on eir skin were lighter than the rest of eir skin.

     After performing the common greeting ritual, they were quiet for inconveniently long.
     "Can I have some food?" Geariyo finally asked.
     "Sure." Kale went into the cave and to the kitchen, Geariyo following. Geariyo left eir pack in the doorway. Zhaanno, wherever ey was now, had made some food. It was actually just the normal food from the food supply center with few spices in it. "If it tastes weird, I can get it unspiced." After giving Geariyo a plateful of the stuff, ey took one for emself. Geariyo looked at the plate for a while, then tasting it.
     "It's okay." They both ate the food. Kale took the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.
     "You should always put your dishes in here. We take turns with turning it on and emptying it. Now it's my turn. We mark them on the list here." Kale pointed to a list above the dishwasher.
     "Okay."
     Kale was quiet again. Ey looked at Geariyo's left hand. "Uh... What's happened to your hand?"
     Geariyo quickly lifted eir left hand up. "It was an accident." The hand was missing the index finger. The other three fingers looked fine. "I was twelve. I was using a big drill to do a hole on a small piece of wood. I had to hold the piece like this..." Geariyo showed that the drill had been right between the index finger and the thumb. "Well, it slipped... an' my finger was gone." Kale looked at the hand, thinking that it must have been very painful. Ey had no idea what to say to Geariyo, though. Ey stretched out eir hand, taking Geariyo's hand in eirs.
     Geariyo was slightly confused. Ey looked up at Kale. "Uh... what can we do around here?"
     Kale let go of Geariyo's hand. "Well... Uh, now, if you're not too tired, I could take you around the place an' show where the food supply center is. And the science education institute."
     "I'm too tired. I just flew all the way from my home to here with my stuff."
     "Okay." They were quiet again.
     "Where do I sleep?"
     "Um... in my room."
     Geariyo looked at em with a questioning look on eir face. "Don't you... have a spare room?"
     "We have two rooms, the kitchen lab an' the general room, an' there are already three people living in here."
     Geariyo was quiet, somewhat shocked. There were not as many predators near the edge of the world than there were near to the middle. The people there could always move into and build new places of living and since the homes were made of mostly wood, extending the current home was also a possibility. With caves forged into rocks it would take too much effort.
     "Y'know... Theri will be gone in sixty days. Then I can sleep in Zhaanno's room an' you can have mine."
     "Okay." They were quiet for a while again.
     "Why did you come here?"
     "To study science. I don't want to be a metal miner."
     "Why did your parent send you specifically here?"
     "I don't know. Ey said you were good, decent people. Where's yer parent, ...Raqeidan, was it?"
     "Ey lives in the cave next to this one."
     "Does ey have more space?"
     "Yeah, but the cave's filled with little kids. Me, Zhaanno an' Theri are the oldest ones an' we got bored of the hassling so we forged our own cave here."
     "Oh." The idea of sleeping in Kale's room sounded far less uncomfortable now.
     "Ya know..." Kale was about to tell why ey thought Tzheigeri had sent Geariyo specifically here, but could not figure out how to express it fluently. "Never mind."
     "Eh?" said Geariyo with a questioning look. Kale did not say anything, so Geariyo let it be.
     Kale continued after a while. "What exactly did ya came to study?"
     "Astronomy."
     "An' your parent sent ya to a couple of geologists?"
     "Maybe I'll study geology then!" Kale was quiet, looking at Geariyo. It crossed eir mind that ey probably should not have said that. "I know I don't want to be a metal miner. What kind of scientist I will eventually be doesn't matter, I'll be happy to just be one." Geariyo looked at Kale rather fiercely, and Kale stayed silent.
     Geariyo walked away into the hall room and looked out through the window. "Why do ye live here? I mean, near to the center of the world?"
     "Why not?" asked Kale, following Geariyo.
     "Why not? Why NOT?" snapped Geariyo. "Don't ye have any idea how many predators there are in here compared to the amount of predators near the edge? Our ancestors should never have come here. Now I have to leave my home an' live in constant danger just because I want to study science."
     Kale was quiet for a moment. "You know, you're right." Geariyo turned to look at em, giving em a curious and somewhat astonished look. "I don't want to live here an' watch my little siblings get killed. I'm going to apply for a transfer so I can work at the edge." With that, Kale went to the other side of the room and picked out a stack of papers tied together with a string. Geariyo was too confounded to utter a single word.
     However, just as Kale was about to open eir mouth to announce something, Geariyo began: "Y'd just leave yer home like that? An' go alone?"
     "Why not? YOU did, an' after all, ya were the one leaving to the wrong direction. I should've done this ages ago. It would've saved me so much trouble." Saying that, ey remembered how ey had saved Zhaanno's life twice after they had graduated as geologists. If Kale had left as soon as ey had graduated, Zhaanno would not be alive anymore. The thought of that was rather unbearable, and ey stared blankly at the papers in front of em.
     Geariyo was somewhat helpless. Ey was used to having a strong effect on people and emself, but this went over even eir scale. As Kale stood there thinking about Zhaanno, Geariyo remembered pieces of the history and evolution of tzhaganes.

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© by V. E. "Veltzeh" Lehkonen