The Ilia's Lovers - chapter twenty-Five

Amara sped by as they descended from the upper atmosphere where they’d spent the majority of the journey across the planet on their way to Turantis and the estate of Aran, the first chamber representative of that territory and his family, where Ariana had given birth to twin sons. Derrum and Adeen. Hadith sat next to her, her hand in his lap where he’d held it for the past hour or so of the journey. He seemed to be more excited to see Ariana and her twins than Elaine.

The windscreen in front of the driver lit up and a red line outlined the estate of Ariana’s home.

“It’s huge.”

The house alone was like a French mansion surrounded by cultured gardens that seemed to go on forever.

“This was one of the oldest hereditary seats on Amara. Erevon was one of Dahnus’s closest allies. He worked closely with Dahnus’s father. He chose not to become mated or have children so that one day this seat would fall free and Dahnus would be able to nominate a commoner to take it.”

“He did that willingly?”

Hadith nodded.

“He wanted a new Amara and he knew it would take great sacrifices to get there. Too often, people are only interested in politics and what affects them. We need to change that if we are to change our world. We need to think about the world where we want our children to live.” Hadith’s grip tightened on Elaine.

“Erevon wanted a better world for all Amarans and sacrificed his own future to that end.”

“‘Plant trees under which you will never enjoy the shade,’”

“Plant trees…” Hadith frowned at her.

“It means, stop planning a world where we enjoy short term fruits of labour. Instead, plan a world where our children will enjoy those fruits and plant more for their children and grandchildren. It’s about how short sighted we are sometimes, sacrificing our children’s future for our pleasure today.”

“It’s a philosophy to live by,” Hadith said, squeezing her hand.

“I don’t think I could give up having children though,” Elaine said, her free hand coming to rest over her heart to still the pain at the thought. “I’ve wanted them my whole life. I don’t think I could give that up for anything.”

“Erevon wanted them too. That sacrifice hurt him.”

“I feel so bad for him,” Elaine said.

Hadith squeezed her hand again.

“You will not have to sacrifice children, Elaine. That I can assure you.”

Elaine bit the inside of her lip to stop the eager, hopeful smile wanted to spread across her face. She remembered what Dahnus said while they were on the island, about her getting pregnant and how much a gift they would consider it. She remembered Hadith saying how much he wanted children and the thought of a child, of children. Half-human, half-Amaran. Adalan children, with Hadith’s eyes or Dahnus’s.

She wanted it so much she could barely breath.

“We’re coming into land,” the pilot said.

The vehicle settled on the landing pad and Hadith opened the door, getting out and helping Elaine to her feet.

Vedian stood on the path in front of him, his whole body buzzing with happiness and excitement.

Meanwhile, behind them, the other ten vehicles they were forced to bring with them with the contingent of guards, including Zinif and Thalvuten, landed and guards erupted into the small area, the Raqhan and Nuulan taking positions behind her, while Talsin, Hadith’s head guard, fought for space with them. There was some kind of clash for supremacy going on in Hadith’s guards against Zinif and Thalvuten that emerged when they were trying to work out how to secure their travel to Turantis.

Vedian watched the scrabble with amusement, before looking at Hadith and Elaine.

“Dahnus takes our safety very seriously,” Hadith said by way of explanation.

“Indeed. Come. I have children to show off and everyone else has seen them and left.”

‘Well, that was inconsiderate of them,” Elaine joked.

“I know,” Vedian said, turning and striding towards the house. He looked back and seemed to remember Elaine’s small legs, so slowed into a walk.

Hadith laughed and took Elaine’s hand in his before following.

The garden surrounding the house was filled with incredible plants, mostly in the light green with little tinged leafing Elaine had seen elsewhere on Amara, but there were large grasses in muted steel blues. Bushes which grew flowers in powder blue. Here and there were patches of carmine red, royal purples, dusty pinks and burnt oranges. Each colour seemed to separate a part of the garden into different areas, with walkways, seating areas, dining areas dotted around.

The overall sense of the garden was homely, comfortable, and welcoming while being grandiose at the same time. When they went inside, it was much the same.

Living in Corus, it was hard to remember sometimes that not all Amarans lived on top of mountain peaks where the homes, stores and great houses were carved from the mountainside. Here, the houses were almost mundane and really did remind her of chateaus in France.

“This look like homes on earth. I thought alien homes would look more… alien.”

“This looks like Earth?” Hadith asked.

“Ariana said the same when we moved in. Something, chitow?’

“Chateau. It’s old houses in France, usually they come attached to vinyards.”

“It’s a place where they grow grapes to make wine. Human alcohol,” she said when she saw the confused look still no Hadith’s face. He opened his mouth in a silent “Ah” and they continued into the house.”

“You want to see an alien house? Hadith said. “What do you think an alien house looks like.”

“Alien,” Elaine said, shrugging.

“You want to take her back via Farim. That place is trippy,” Ariana called out as they entered the room where she sat with Tyne and Aran, each of the adalan holding a baby.

Elaine’s heart seemed to expand when she saw the tiny, blanketed bundles in their arms.

“Ohhhh!”

“Uh oh, somebody pass Elaine a baby.”

“Which one. Derrum or Adeen?” Tyne asked. A tiny arm appeared from the lavender bundle.

“Oh my god!” Elaine squeaked.

“I don’t think it matters. Just give her a baby.” Ariana’s voice was now slightly panicked.

Tyne laughed and stood, walking over to Elaine and laying the lavender blanket, baby and all, into her arms.

yellow and orange eyes frowned up at her, his darker skin showing made it hard to know if he was a male or adalan There was a tan tint to his grey skin contributed by his mother’s African heritage on her mother’s side. Ariana’s father was Japanese and the little adalan’s eyes had an epicanthic fold in a nod to his grandfather’s heritage.

“He’s so beautiful,” Elaine said.

“His name is Adeen. The other one is Derrum, they’re both boys.”

“Where is Melida and Corim?” Elaine asked, her eyes glued to the beautiful baby boy.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I tried to keep them up for you, but they were both too restless.”

Hadith approached her, Derrum resting in his arms, bundled in a light aqua blanket. He pulled the blanket away from Derrum’s face and Elaine gazed at her. His eyes were light brown, taking after his mother but the Amaran male genes lightening them. Light this, they looked like a tiger’s eye gemstone, the light moved over them, catching them like jewels. He had the same epicanthic fold as his mother and brother, but while Adeen’s skin darker brown with a hint of grey, Derrum’s skin was much lighter and had a lighter grey tint to it.

“Oh wow. Ariana. They’re perfect.”

“I know,” Ariana said, a huge grin on her face.

Elaine looked up at Hadith who was staring down at her with a conflict of emotions on his face. When he caught her eye, everything smoothed into a tender, content look.

With every fibre of her being, Elaine hoped this would be them soon. As soon as possible. Perhaps, already they were on the way?

“Come and sit down. Those two are gaining weight so quickly and they were already big when they were born.”

Elaine had to admit, that while they were tiny and small and everything perfect, they were also bigger than human new borns.

For the next hour Ariana regaled and horrified them with the obligatory birth story while Vedian, Aran and Tyne fussed around the three of them, getting them drinks and food and making sure they were okay holding the babies, taking them when needed and returning them because Elaine wanted to be holding a baby and imagining, hoping, dreaming, that one day it would be her and Hadith and Dahnus.

Finally, it became obvious Ariana was running out of steam and the babies began fussing. They left without seeing Melida and Corim, but with a promise to see them soon and left, getting back into the flyers and getting ready to make the journey back to Corus.

Hadith arranged for them to go back via Farim and when they were almost there, the flyers took them down to the city.

They were still a distance out when they descended close to the ground and Hadith pointed out the houses in what was essentially the suburbs.

“Now this is more like it,” Elaine said, staring at the tall thin houses which seemed to have a room on every level with balconies making up half the living spaces. All of them had water integrated into the architecture, and some of them had water on every floor. Walkway were open to the elements, and each house was surrounded by lush gardens with mature greenery surrounding and integrated into the entire neighbourhood.

“Wait until you see the city,” Hadith murmured.

Elaine looked at him and he nodded out of the front of the flyer.

There, Elaine could see huge buildings, curving flourishes surrounding them and connecting them to neighbouring buildings. There were balconies covered in plant life, bushes and trees, and water everywhere. The ground was almost entirely covered in greenery with the buildings taking up barely any footprint, as massive as they were, the spaces between the buildings was larger still. Windows, light, and matt chrome covered the buildings. Landing pads, private and public, sat atop the flat rooftops and a tube-like system of roads passed through, around and over buildings. In the greenery were smaller buildings that looked like apartment blocks and even some individual housing.

“This is incredi—”

“I see them,” the pilot said suddenly, responding to someone talking in his translator which doubled as a security earpiece.

“Sit back. Some of our escorts are being attacked.”

With that, the pilot dove.

“Oh my god,” Elaine said, looking out the windows and seeing their escort diving at the same time, trying to outmanoeuvre the attackers that had appeared from nowhere and were now all around them.

As she watched, two of the flyers in their formation exploded.

“No!”

“Elaine, come here.”

Elaine turned to see Hadith looking at her, his arms open.

“There is nothing we can do. Come here.”

Elaine threw herself into Hadith’s arms and buried her head in his chest. She hated this. She felt useless. She wished she’d gone to the gym with Pyri when she was taking self-defence lessons from Sophia, but it all seemed so stupid. They were officers on a ship fully equipped for war, surrounded by allies, until they weren’t. Until everything went wrong.

Around them there were several explosions. Elaine felt like each one sent an electric shock to her body from her heart out. She couldn’t stop the screams, though she was able to mute them a little, until they were small yips and cries. Hadith held onto her and reassured her, his voice utterly calm as he spoke to Dahnus on a personal line. Even with her blood rushing through her ears, Elaine could hear Dahnus’s voice cutting through the explosions and the din, giving Hadith instructions as he ran to his own flyer.

“Elaine. We’re going to crash. Hold onto me.”

A high-pitched whine penetrated Elaine’s mind. It was the sound of an engine desperately trying to respond to command and unable to do so properly.

The engine room on Endurance appeared in her mind. The rush of panic as the crew worked to try and get the engine connecting to the system. Elaine remembered looking into Oliva eyes and seeing fear there when suddenly the bridge comm’d in, demanding answers.

The booms of the alien’s incursion onto the ship. The doors opening. Aliens grabbing, groping, pushing, laughing at them.

“I have you, Elaine. I have you, my love.”

Elaine heard what she thought must be the flyer crashing through trees. She closed her eyes, tighter, waiting for the impact.