Oriehn

Chapter 10- Taliesin

Chapter 10- Taliesin

Having confessed my fear, I felt vulnerable. I had become far too lenient with my emotions in the months—months— spent on Earth. Alice, with her her independent thought, appealing figure, her shining blonde hair, made me vulnerable. The way her brow pinched together when she listened, and the way her lip curled when she didn't want to... Stop, this has to stop, I thought, I have to stop.

"Sin," she called out, "I will be fine."

I snorted, shaking my head. "The marauders who threatened to abduct you earlier would have it otherwise."

"You were there! I was safe."

I raised an eyebrow. "You fell off of the wing of the pod! Drai saved you." I scoffed, self-loathing rising. "I put you in that position in the first place. If she hadn't been there, your blood would have been on my hands."

"What about earlier?" She pleaded, stomping her foot softly. "When the wardens were chasing us away? I tripped. I was not able to walk, let alone run for my life. You were there."

"I will not always be there, Alice!" I shouted, a flush rising with my temper. "I will not always be there."

She furrowed her brow. "Something tells me that you are not just talking about differences in station. You seem to be referencing something else, something unknown to me."

I refused to look her in the eye. "Alice... do you know how long I was down on Earth?"

"Yes," she said as her eyes searched my face. "You were down there for—"

"Three months. I was on Earth for three months. You are a doctor. You have studied our kind for years even. How long did the other test subjects last? Before they died?"

She was silent for a moment. "No more than a month. Usually shorter."

"And you find that unusual, don't you?" I asked, but she didn't reply, just staring at me. "Our kind can live for millennia amongst our own people—on our own planet."

"When you come down to Earth..." She trailed off.

"We lose our immortality. And for those of us of an old age, we die much quicker," I whispered, my hands shaking slightly.

She clutched the collar of my shirt subconsciously. She breathed quickly. "How old are you?"

"I have lost track." My eyes began to sting. "So you see, I do not know when my time is. But I do know that I do not have much left."

"So you will not always be there for me." She whispered, voice breaking. "And I?"

"You?" I frowned.

"How long will I have? If we Oriehn do not have the stamina to last long on Earth, and I have lived nearly twenty-years there, how long do I have? And if even the combatants and soldiers could not survive a month on Earth, how did I survive a lifetime?"

I stepped back. Eyes narrowing, I frowned. "How could I not have asked this myself before?" I turned to face the wall, wanting to punch a hole in it. "Alice, I do not have the answers."

"Someone must," she protested. "Surely your leaders have an iota of knowledge on this!"

"Our invasion of Earth lasted nearly two months, and we rotated soldiers and reinforcements halfway through. We have not exposed ourselves long enough or in large enough groups to know much of anything." I clenched my fists, desperation creeping in. Footsteps echoed down the hallway, but I did not look up.

"Drai," Alice stated, introducing the new body. I turned my head to the side, watching as Drai clutched at her heart. She looked over to Alice, up and down, as if she could pinpoint the source of her death and avoid replicating it.

"If the only hope for our future is dying, unmated at that." She paused. "Then I think that I may know who can help answer our questions. Until then, it is pointless in asking: 'What if?'"

"Then allow me to ask, who?" I inquired. "Who would know how she survived? How I survived? How to fix it?"

Drai looked me squarely in the eye, challenging me to doubt her beliefs, as if willingly to bet that I would lose in a philosophical debate and battle of wits. "Someone who knows all. Sees all," she stated slowly.

Understanding crept in as I gave her a strong nod, my jaw firm.

"Who?" Alice interrupted. "Who can help us?"

"The oracle," I clarified, reiterating, "the oracle know all. See all."

"If anyone knows, it will be they," Drai leaned her head against Alice's door.

"That is not the tricky part," I shook my head. "Of course, they will know—"

"But will they be willing to share?" Alice asked.

We fell into silence. "Drai?" I caught her attention. "You haven't gone to see the oracle right? Your claiming period has not started yet, has it?"

"No. Mine has not started. I was delaying, wanting to wait for y—" She cleared her throat. "I wanted to wait."

I grinned slowly, a plan coming to mind. "And Alice. She clearly has not enacted the claiming period because she does not know our traditions."

"I am confused." Drai stated. "Are you implying that on our claiming day, instead of asking who we are destined to be with—to love— you want us to ask the oracles about Alice's life force?"

"Can't we ask both?" Alice queried.

"It is sacrilegious!" Padraigin denounced. "That day has been designated for millennia for available women to find their match. Speaking of anything else is—is..." She stuttered, trying to find the right word.

"Blasphemous?" I filled in. "Drai, I know you have been waiting a long time for this day. I will not ask you to do anything that you are uncomfortable with."

"Yeah, Drai," Alice supported, sending me a glare. "He will just ask me to ask."

"Forgive me, but I assumed that you do not wish to be in a hurry to bind yourself to a foreign male born galaxies away, and centuries before you." I raised an eyebrow. "But perhaps I was wrong. I will reconsider our plan of action then."

"No!" Alice waved her hands in front of her, warding off my previous statement. "You are right. This is perfect. I get the answers that I need, and avoid the ones that I do not need, or want."

I chuckled. "That is what I thought."

Drai still seemed shocked, stuck in her pious thoughts. "We will be landing at the lunar station presently..." She trailed, "And the sieve begins the day after our arrival."

Alice caught her breath. "So soon? We hardly have a week to ourselves for adjustment."

"A week?" I asked her, thoroughly confused. I hesitated, seeing the apprehension in her eyes. "Alice... we are scheduled to arrive tonight."