Nestled amongst an overgrown garden of
bramble spirals and Yew trees, Neter's house was just like the other houses in
Mu; unique, geometric and beautiful in it’s own way. He led the friends into the
house through the back door which opened into a small storage slash boot room,
packed wall to wall with shelving, laden with old tablets, books and scrolls which
had to date back to ancient times. They hung their coats on the hooks and
continued through the room into the kitchen, rustic and welcoming it had an
adjoining living room with an exquisite crystal rock fireplace, there were more
shelves, laden with even more books and exotic ornaments, it was like a museum
inside.
"Make
yourselves at home." He instructed as he made his way to the fireplace so
as to stoke the fire. Zara and Nahash sat down at the table while Mina rummaged
through Neter's cupboards for food, she felt like she was in wonderland again. Her
attention was drawn to the windows, the moonlight reflecting on the crystals,
spinning in the window, projected colored beams of light which rotated around
the room, it reminded her of the lights at the Green Serpent. It was hard to
believe... She was actually inside the
God of Death's house! She could laugh now, but to be sure, she scanned the
room for evidence... Once again there weren't any signs of danger, there were
no Golden Goblets or Golden Platters... No medals...
She
had been so gravely misled sometimes she knew not whether to laugh or cry. She
closed her eyes, trying to feel how
his home truly felt. There was a peaceful feeling here, she didn't feel like
she had anything to fear, she had just been taught to fear him...
Once
the fire was blazing, Neter joined them at the table and the friends raised
their goblets in toast of the new adventure, high on the hope that had
blossomed in their hearts. Neter noticed Zara was gulping down her bread, it
was amazing how much better she looked already. He reflected upon her speech at
the podium, she had surprised him in more ways than one, she had handled it
quite well once she came out of her shell in front of all those people however
her language was troubling.
"Do
you know what an 'aribu' is?"
Zara
felt the blood drain from her face as he lanced her with the question, out of
the blue. Was this a trick? She swallowed her mouthful of bread but it got
lodged in her throat. She reached for the wine and took a big drink, washing it
down.
"A
working example" she replied, trying her best to feign confidence. "An
adult Product." She didn't like the look on his face. "A Cog. Why?"
Neter
reached his hand across the table offering to hold her hand.
Fear
engulfed her thoughts as he offered compassion, assuring her he was indeed
about to destroy her world again. With a deep breath she reached out to take
his hand, unable to resist his support.
"You're
not an example. Or an adult
Product."
"What?" Zara was lost, it wasn’t
what she was expecting.
"You're
not a cog, you're not an aribu, you're a Sovereign
Being." He explained the concept of a Sovereign Being to her as simply
as he could. "Aribu means Locust in our ancient tongue" he broke the
devastating news, finally.
"WHAT?" It was like a brand new
spear, a long lance with big barbs slowly stabbing her heart. She could feel
the last of the blood drain from her face as she reeled from the latest blow.
"A Locust?" She felt like she was in
some really bad dream again. "I’m a Locust… We're... Locusts?"
"It's
an old Solarian Propaganda thing" he explained. "It's like the dogon
thing. It’s ridiculous that it's still going on."
Zara
snatched her hand away and reached for her wine, her heart was pounding so hard
she felt sick. How many times she had
used the term 'aribu' in her speech in front of all those people? It
was all so embarrassing... What did they think? Was that what they were all murmuring about?
The
cocktail of embarrassment and fear was too much again. Zara chugged back more
wine, grateful now of it's medicinal attributes. But even authentic Moonwine
couldn't douse the flames of rage she felt burning inside now. She felt
poisoned, sick to her stomach, at this stage she didn't even want to know anymore.
The
table fell silent as she gathered her thoughts and emotions. Now she was relieved that they didn't let her go
with them to crash the party in Atlan. She knew now why Neter wouldn’t let her
go, she would only go berserk!
Zara pulled the blankets up around her neck as she curled up on the couch and gazed out the magical crystal window to the moon, no longer simply the moon, unable to calm her racing mind. One minute everything seemed fine, then just like that, one simple word translation could ruin her whole night. She closed her eyes, trying to think about other things, but the more she tried to figure it all out, the more she felt like she had been the laughing stock in some big joke. She pondered all the studying she had done... The dreams of being an Architect... The storefronts she hoped to design... The years and years and years it took to be an assistant in the printing room... The promise of a grand career only to be spat out into the TLS program before reaching a second rung. That too, her career... It was all just one big joke!
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