History
Part 9.
Impressions - First Reconnaissance.
Erin bound her long red hair back, wiped her pony away from her brow and looked at the paper again to make sure she hadn't missed anything. No, she had been right. Life might be hell from now on. From the current 18 people on Cyatri, the two most obnoxious, irritating two would be staying at the base. She sighed, well at least there would be enough room to hide from Thio and Terrence, the terrible two T's.
As she took a step back, Thio stood behind her, wearing a painfully bright yellow shirt above a
pair of bright green trousers. Inwardly shuddering at the combination, Erin tried to look busy enough to slip away. But she failed.
"Hey Erin! I see you're staying here too."
"Yes Thio." she said, "I am."
"I can feel the love." he said, "Well I think you might have work to do. I'll leave you alone now." walking away quickly, Erin wondered briefly if she might have hurt him, but how could you hurt someone who dressed like that?
Looking at her own functional outfit she even wondered how he and she could come from the same continent. She was wearing shorts and a beige tank top for her morning workout on her free day and thought she might be able to fade away in the plains outside with just a tad of dirt on her face and legs, and some leaves in her hair.
Maybe she should try that, who knew, in a few days a vanishing skill would be useful to outrun Thio and
Terrence, she just knew both of them would be bothering her. Why didn't
men understand no was no? Erin started running again. She left the buildings of the Base behind her and headed for the flat, open terrain.
***
Terrence sat near the library, lurking around, waiting for Fairlight to appear. Unconsciously fingering his well-tended blond moustache, he stared at the the glass doors. Cases of books and some large potted plants obscured the inside of the library, but Terrence knew
Fairlight wasn't alone. But that didn't put him off, Terrence loved a challenge.
Finally the blond-haired young woman left, waving at Iyru and Oisin who
remained in the library. He knew that they were the only ones of the high 6 currently there, the other three, Tasrin, Enid and Knux, were off to explore the islands around the continent. Terrence didn't care about them, when he was wooing a woman, the rest of the world vanished. Of course, there were other women he aspired to seduce. After all, when Fairlight left for her island again he would be alone, and his room would be so cold and lonely...
His mind wavered from Fairlight to the well-formed Erin. She would also prove a challenge, the way she was avoiding him. Terrence smiled, he loved a good challenge.
"Bonjour mon ange." he said, making a small bow when Fairlight passed him, "Mind if I walk with you?"
"Yes, but I know you won't stop following me even if I deny."
That shut Terrence up for a few seconds. A challenge indeed, she was defiant and strong-willed. Time after time she had told him she wasn't available, yet she wore no ring and saw no-one of the others on the planet. And even if she had not been available, that wouldn't have stopped Terrence. He had had his share of angry boyfriends and disgruntled husbands. If they could not provide the romance their women needed, he would fix that.
He did nothing wrong with that.
"Talk fast." Fairlight said, "I leave within ten minutes."
"Ten minutes? You've hardly enjoyed your stay here." Terrence said, quirking his eyebrows, "Why don't you stay a little longer, drink some hot coco, and maybe..."
"Fall madly in love with you?" Fairlight asked, "That's never going to happen, lieutenant Terrence. Stop following me, or I'll send Valentine after you. Contrary to what most people believe she isn't as full of love as her colour suggests." She grinned then, a beautiful smile showing her pearly white teeth.
In the distance Valentine landed, her purple wings folding on her back and her bright, glowing eyes looking at Terrence with a strange expression.
For a moment Terrence felt the wind whisper: "Leave her alone, or else you'll taste my wrath.", but no doubt that was only his imagination, the wind on the plains were noisy at the best of times...
"Bye lieutenant." Fairlight said, "J'éspère que vous me laisse faire ce que je veux toute seule le prochaine fois que je viens."
Terrence looked up at Fairlight's use of his native French. He had not known that she knew it, there were more things he didn't know about Fairlight, but he still had
time.
"Or Valentine might carry out her threat..." the wind whispered softly,
"Laisse-la!"
"Strange winds today." Fairlight said suddenly, "Sometimes it is best to heed their warning." Fairlight looked at him
meaningful.
"The ten minutes haven't passed yet!" Terrence called as she
climbed on Valentine's back.
"I told you I'd leave within ten minutes. You should listen
more."
With that Fairlight and Valentine were gone. What had she meant with that
last remark? He listened to her every word, hung to her lips. Surely he
knew that she wanted him.
***
Thio walked from the refectory were he had met with Erin and wondered for a moment if he had led her on. He had not made a move toward her, had not even suggested anything of the sort. He liked Erin, he
genuinely wanted to be her friend because he thought she would be the one to understand him.
"I guess there will be cold days ahead of us." he told himself, maybe it would be best to move away, they had not decided who would go to Cohuchi Bay yet, but maybe he should volunteer.
At least being alone on an island would ensure that no-one yelled at him.
And considering the tension between the three of them - Erin seeing him as
irritating, Thio seeing him as competition - there would be yelling.
Suddenly he saw Terrence coming from the landing area, not looking very pleased. Thio smiled inwardly, he wasn't one to easily carry grudges, but Terrence should know better than to go after Fairlight. At least he should,
Thio did not come near the woman if he could... not since the tea incident.
Suddenly, as Thio ducked inside the buildings to get away from Terrence who didn't seem in an enjoyable mood right now, Erin appeared on the horizon. She could not have chosen a worse time to run back into view, because Terrence
immediately ran toward her. Luckily for Erin, she was a fast runner.
Acting like she hadn't seen him, which was impossible, she sprinted toward
the base.
"In here, quickly." Thio called in a low voice when she came close enough. When Erin saw who had saved her, she nearly bolted back out again. But Thio pushed her away from the door and stepped outside himself.
"Terrence!" he called, "There's something I've been wanting to tell you." he called, feeling giddy just for trying scaring Terrence, but if he knew the French lover boy, he would run as fast as he could.
There was something liberating at what he was going to do, coming out of
the closet as it was called. He couldn't care less about Terrence, but he
just wanted to break out. He had hidden behind a mask long enough.
"What, Thio?" Terrence said angrily.
Thio almost felt sorry for the man, he would make Terrence's day even worse, but maybe this one day would keep him in check for a longer period.
"Terrence," he said again, coming closer, "You know you're a very attractive man..."
More wasn't needed for Terrence to go bug-eyed and run.
"Well, he wasn't really my type." Thio shrugged, opening the door for Erin again, "The coast is clear."
Erin looked at him with a calculating look until he finally could not take
it any longer. On Earth it hadn't mattered how he spent his free time, but
here, stranded on a planet with only 17 other people, this could have
consequences. He just hoped she would not laugh or run. Anything else, but
not those two.
"I didn't mean to deceive anyone." he said, a bit defensive, "You just don't go around telling people you're gay. Not in my position."
"No..." she said, "It does explain the clothes."
"I thought gays were supposed to have a sense of style." he said.
"So you know you're a sore to the eye?"
"At least it's cheery. But I think, I might have to go cheer up Cohuchi now, there's no way
I'm staying here longer with a pissed Terrence around."
"He does have stalker-traits." Erin said, "But that leaves me alone with a loverboy who feels he needs to prove his masculinity."
"Maybe you should stay around people more." Thio shrugged, "Preferably Fairlight. She seems to be in the same position."
Not to mention she could blow him off. Thio couldn't imagine what she had
done to make Terrence angry.
"Too bad she left for Kunmie."
"Iyru and Oisin are still here, maybe they have something to get you away from Terrence."
"That will be my first question tomorrow." Erin smiled, "Thanks, Thio."
"No problem. I'll return more often than Fairlight." he winked.
Watching Erin go, he felt more confident than he had since the start of
the mission. It was tiring, playing a part that he wasn't meant to play.
He returned to the buildings and went to his room for a good night's rest.
Tomorrow he'd be off to Cohuchi.
***
The next day brought change for Terrence. One change - Thio going away - was good, in fact, Terrence felt like celebrating just that announcement. He had tried forgetting what had happened last night, but hadn't really succeeded with herbal tea alone. One day he would have to plant a garden of grapes to make wine, because not having anything alcoholic was murder.
The second announcement - Erin going to map the surroundings - was not good. With Erin away,
that left him wit only one other woman and she was madly in love with that poor excuse
of a musician. Singers always got the chicks, which was disgusting, but a simple fact of life. Terrence always kept as far away as possible from any musician with even a pinch of talent.
Of course, with no women around, Cyatri would be boring to say the least.
What left that for him? Only to impress a dragon and chase after either Erin or Fairlight with it...
He was supposed to impress a dragon anyways, so he might just as well
impress one today.
Leaving the storageroom after he had picked up the first egg within his
reach, Terrence headed for the Plains AIDEN, the same structure where he
had met Fairlight before. While he walked he pondered the dilemma he was
facing. Both women were beautiful and Fairlight was mysterious, but also
seemed to have no problem with threats... maybe Erin was a better choice
to settle for. It would be settling, his first choice would always be
Fairlight. Well at one day he might find someone as sophisticated as she.
He would just have to keep trying.
Terrence placed the egg down and waited. For a long time he sat, just
thinking about several women he had had and wondered why the women here
would be so different.
"I don't like you looking at them..." a voice suddenly said
close beside him.
"Wha...?"
"I don't like you looking at them like they're pretty prizes for you
to hunt. Besides, I think you should only chase me for a
while."
The beige, black-haired plains dragoness walked from the remainder of her
egg, kicked away a shard laying in her way and finally stopped before
Terrence.
"Got a problem with that?"
"Your a female." Terrence said.
"Brilliant. And I think that you're not treating my kind right. I
shall see that you behave better." the large horns and teeth shone
brightly white in the shade as the dragoness grinned, "Besides, I
can't let you run around following a certain body part and at the same
time expect you to run the plains adoptions."
"Vaala..." he said, "With all respect, but I'm not doing
anything wrong. Don't hurt your pretty brain and let's go back."
Terrence was rewarded by a tail lashing his head. "I'll hurt your
pretty brain!"
Sighing the dragoness went outside, trailing Terrence behind her with her
tail wrapped around his waist.
"You are mine and mine alone. Remember that Terrence."
Great. Terrence thought, a jealous dragon.
***
Erin jogged to another set of
trees. This thicket grew around some fallen boulders, though where those
large rocks could have gotten from was a mystery. The surrounding plains
were flat enough to look kilometres in the distance.
Erin shivered for a moment, these plains were huge and yet... there was
nothing that seemed alive between her and the horizon to either side. One
day that would be different. She knew that, but she couldn't shake the
feeling that the silent emptiness would be always clinging to these
plains. Like the winds that would forever whisper through here, like
restless souls giving their last message...
Maybe going out alone hadn't been such a good idea. She had no-one to talk
too, no-one to drown out the howling of the winds and the rustling of the
wavy dry grass. Sitting down, she was maybe a bit careless in putting her
backpack beside her, eager to get some sleep before she ran on, because it
spilled aside, letting the egg roll out of it and toward the stones.
So the plains weren't that flat at all. If the egg rolled, then she was on
a very very low hill. She walked after her egg and suddenly it seemed to
stop on it's own. It shook a bit and then fell silent again.
Erin stopped and kept looking at the egg. Was it hatching? Or were the
shaking motions just something normal from the surroundings? Carefully she
walked a bit further and the egg shook again. Ok, hatching. She wondered
if she should help the dragon, but before she could bend down to strip
away the shell, the dragon nearly exploded right into her arms. The
dragon, a female was grey with black patches on her hide and a small white
horn on her forehead. She had wings too, small and hard triangles that
seemed more like delta-flyers than like wings.
"Hello there." Erin said.
"Hi!" the dragon answered, her big bright eyes looking up with
just a tad of fear.
"What's your name?" Erin asked.
"Sten." the dragoness answered, "Can we stay here a little
longer? I'm tired."
"I guess going back to the base can wait a little longer." Erin
shrugged. Keeping away from Terrence some more might be even better.
***
Thio stepped away from the water,
wading to one of the crescent shores of Cohuchi Isle. He waved to Iyru and
Safyre. They soon vanished in the sea, returning to the base. Thio had
been surprised that Iyru had suggested she could stay with him to hatch
his egg. But Thio wanted to do more here then just hatch an egg. He wanted
to explore the island a bit, and think. When he was alone, everything was
always more clear, and he needed clarity right now.
Walking around the beach he wondered how best a community would be built
here. If the dragons needed to have access, that almost meant building in
the water. Maybe it would be a good idea to dig out a large canal for them
to have access to a central square, then the houses could be built both on
the land and on poles extending from the water.
Thio sat down on the beach and started building the village in his mind.
He didn't know how long he sat there, enjoying the sun and the beach, but
suddenly he noticed two shapes in the distance. Flying and jumping in the
water the two were too big to be fishes. Just as fast as he had noticed
them, just as easily they vanished... running away from... him? He had a
clue who they were, the two dragons lost at sea that Iyru had said might
be around, but he had never believed he would get to see them.
Regretting that they left, Thio took out his own egg and placed it in the
water. Taking a few steps back he watched as small cracks appeared in the
shell. He nearly missed the serpentine form spilling from the back, but he
was quick enough to be in the water when the dragon resurfaced again.
"Hi." he said, "What's your name?"
The male blue-green bay blinked, before he opened his mouth and
yawned.
"Am I that interesting?" Thio asked.
"Sorry, no." the dragon said, "My name is Baja. It's just
so comfortable in your arms... I could fall asleep right here and
now."
"It is rather pleasant here." Thio answered, "I think I'll
enjoy living here."
