fandomhigh | Library

Altra grumbled, but settled himself on the floor in front of her, forcing Karal to hide a smile. "If you wish to tell me, I would be pleased to listen, and I doubt very much if I will be bored."

"I suppose all stories should start Once upon a time," she said, smiling a bit. "Once upon a time, on a planet called Antar, there was a king called Zan. And Zan tried to change things. In his mind, he was going to make things better. But some people didn't like change. And the king, his bride, his general and his sister were all killed."

Karal nodded, listening attentively. "I know about people who wish to make such changes." Though when the changes were decreed by Vkandis Himself, there was little chance of such violence. "That is a great tragedy, Isabel."

"That's only the beginning," Isabel shrugged. "The king's mother was a scientist. She was able to distill the essence of the Royal Four and combine it with human DNA to create hybrids. They were then sent to earth so that they could grow up, learn to use their powers and return to save their planet."

"She created you? And - you said 'we' - others like you?" he asked, disturbed by that, even though most of what she was saying was beyond his understanding. His knowledge of people being created to serves the ends of others involved nothing good. "And you are to be sent to try and free the planet, whether you wish it or not?"

"My brother, the king, his wife and his general," she nodded, turning her attention from Altra and focusing on the books. "Whether we wanted to or not. We have a responsibility to try. I mean we owe to them in way."

"You did not ask to be created," he said slowly, disturbed but concealing it behind a calm face. "I do not see how they have the right to force you into a life you do not wish." And he was struck by the irony of saying such when the Church of the Sunlord had, before Solaris's ascendancy, taken children for a life in the church, whether they wanted it or not.

"No body is forcing us. The ship that brought us here crashed. Our guardians were either killed, or walked away. One betrayed us." Isabel slowly sorted the books, although tomorrow she'd wonder how the lurid romance wound up in the sci-fi pile. "We grew up not knowing who or what we were. We finally did find answers. I suppose we could have walked away. But we didn't."

"Which is to your great credit," he said quickly. "I'm sorry, I did not intend to sound as I were criticising, but it sounded as if you were to be forced to fight, and that did not sit well. Growing up without that knowledge, without guardians, must have been very confusing."

"I'd rather not fight," she admitted, not sure why she was willing to do so. "But responsibility you know?" A shrug dismissed that line of thought. "We did eventually wind up with guardians. My brother and I were adopted. I love my parents very much."

"I do know, yes. Very well." He watched the books for a bit. "It's good that you found people who would love and care for you, and for your brother."

"It is," Isabel smiled fondly. "They only found out the truth about who and what we are recently. They've been wonderful about it."

"I imagine that would have been quite a shock!" He shook his head, trying to imagine how they must have felt. "Do they know you are going to go off to fight to free your planet?"

Altra yawned, shook himself, and trotted off into the stacks, disappearing behind a shelf.

"We've already gone," she said quietly. "Max and Michael are still there. If things work out, I'll be going back in August."

"I didn't realise," he said quietly, casting about for somthing reassuring to say. He didn't have a lot of luck. "Will you be returning?"

"I'd like to. But I just don't know," Isabel admitted.

"No, of course you wouldn't," he murmured. That had been extremely tactless of him. "Forgive me, I wasn't thinking."

"It's okay," she said. "You didn't know."

Isabel glanced after Altra, "Is he hunting gremlins?"

Karal nodded quickly, still regretting his question. "Who knows what he's doing. He is very much a law of his own. Oh!" He reached into the pocket of his robe and extracted several folded pieces of paper, offering them to Isabel. "I will give these to you, hopefully they'll assist in re-cataloguing the books."

Smiling, Isabel turned to the stacks and called out "Be careful of the little green guys. They bite."

"What's this?"

"It is a list of all the books which I stacked for the librarian," he explained. "Last week, when I met you here? She indicated it may be helpful, so it is the title and condition of each book I looked at."

"Oh that will be useful," Isabel nodded. "But how did you remember all of this?"

"It was part of my training," he explained. "Remember what I see, remember what I read, but I can't hold it in my head for very long, so I needed to write it down."

"Smart," she said. "I'm pretty good at taking notes but nothing like this."

"It was necessary to learn, so I learned," he said with a smile. "I'm just grateful for whatever magic it is that allows me understand the language here, to speak and write it."

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