Spirit Unbreakable

Reniko sped up her pace, leaving the confines of station at the exit of the council meeting. She could hear Malik’s footsteps as he hurried after her, his gait making echoes in the corridor. She felt the confining fabric of her dress clinging to her, making her unable to hurry and only take careful steps so she didn’t trip herself. Her hair pinned into place around the diadem was maddening and with a frustrated cry she tore it out of her hair, leaving lose pins dangling in her dishevelled hair. Malik slowed as he neared, tentative, her mood palpable in the air.

“It could have been worse,” Malik consoled. He grabbed Reniko’s diadem before she had a chance to toss it onto the floor. She stopped at his resistance and looked at him trying to find composure and be rid of the furry that was building inside her.

“I was the deciding vote, Malik. I don’t like using my power that way. I was hoping that they would support me in this, but those that weren’t there just don’t understand. It’s a disaster, I don’t know what to do,” Reniko let go of the diadem, it was the one that she had received from Rimca’s family before she went before Ulee and Hibron, the Queen and King of the Le’a’to at Corbasin City. Malik traced the vine like pattern of it trying to find the right words. But what could he say? It had been disastrous in there. Thia of Onerdiswane had brought up again the subject of the Rük, opposing Reniko in her pursuit of helping them now that the council had been fully assembled with the incorporation of Morta, the representative of the Teoko on Raet Serac. Gorez of Porsshash had stood in defence of Thia, as had Edessa of Waterfall Valley, Baoith of Savonly, and Morta of Underground City. When Reniko had pleaded her case and left it to vote, she had every intention of standing by the council’s decision, but Malik saw the pain in her eyes when it seemed that the council was divided equally, only Callum, Penumbra, Orric, Rimca and himself had supported her. They were the only ones that understood her need to do this, that if she could not at least do her utmost to help them and fail, she would not be the ruler that Vespen needed. Even then, Malik had seen the hesitation in Rimca’s eyes, had understood her own private hate and fear of the Rük, and was all too relieved when she tentatively raised her hand in favour. He feared that the only reason she had done it was from the glance they shared and Malik’s private plea for her to support Reniko. That was what Ulee had asked her to do, to be guide and guardian to Reniko, but he hated to play that hand when all Reniko wanted was to be friends with her.

“That is why there are eleven council members and not ten, Reniko, to break the stalemates,” Malik said. It was all he could say and he felt terrible for it.

Reniko nodded. She was out of words and tired of arguing. “I’m just glad that Orric was able to end the council meeting on more agreeable terms.”

Malik sighed and handed the diadem back to Reniko. “I think that a festival to commemorate the liberation of Vespen is a splendid idea. Do you think there will be enough time to plan it?”

After the heated discussion of the Rük at the council meeting, Orric had kindly broken the tension by placing the idea of a festival in celebration of freedom from Rük rule. Those gathered had all been in favour seeing that it was a perfect excuse for a celebration, and because of the uncertainty of their future, the people of Vespen needed a way of uplifting their spirits. Reniko had been overjoyed by the suggestion and things had been set in motion for a weeklong festival to start six days prior to the day that Reniko had killed Trokar, the seventeenth day of the month Laeltaunde, Winter Harvest, only six weeks away.

“I really hope so,” Reniko was smiling now. “You know it used to take my mother months to plan a party for a few hundred people. I’m sure it would take her a full year to plan a weeklong festival for an entire planet. I wonder who is going to volunteer for the committee,” Reniko mused, thinking fondly of her foster mother, Monica Dorsalin, from Earth.

“If only we didn’t have so much going on, I would have volunteered myself,” Malik said.

Reniko looked at him incredulously. “You obviously have never planned a festival before.”

“What makes you say that?” Malik asked.

“Because you only ever volunteer once,” Reniko said and kissed him grinning. “Thanks for the cheer up. I was thinking of going down to the training yard to spar with Dertrik. Do you want to come?”

Malik shook his head. “I have something I need to discuss with Rimca. I’ll catch up with you later.”

Reniko nodded her head and smiled sadly. “You are right about having much to do. We only seem to have stolen moments together.”

Malik leaned in close to Reniko and kissed her passionately. “I think we should arrange it so we spend every evening together. Regardless of what needs to be done, it can wait.”

Reniko hugged him tightly and closed her eyes taking in the scent of him. “I would like that very much.”

“I’ll see you tonight. It’s a promise.”

Malik found Rimca in the Microgate lab. She was fighting ferociously with the hologram from Reflaydun, but stopped when she saw Malik enter from the lift.

“Something wrong?” Malik asked.

Rimca looked like she was about to tear the throat out of the nearest living person and so Malik kept his distance.

“Reflaydun refuses to let me travel through the gate to Corbasin. I told Abhek that I would come back home today, but that stupid hologram insists that there can be no bridge travel through the Microgates, something about calculations being off today because of the moons being so close to Vespen which is affecting the magnetic field of the planet.”

Malik’s eyes glazed over at the sudden scientific talk. Regardless of the advances everyone else seemed to be making in understanding the Levanith technology, it seemed to wash over Malik’s head. He had instead taken up the translation of the Levanith language, as well as helping find artefacts at various locations of destroyed cities. He could understand the purpose of the items he found no problem, but explaining exactly how they worked he left up to Rimca and Reniko.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I am glad that you’re still here. I need to talk to you about the council meeting,” Malik replied. He watched as Rimca’s whole demeanour changed and realized that she had been down here trying to leave for other reasons than to get back to her husband. She had been trying to avoid him.

When she remained silent waiting, Malik continued. “Why did you hesitate to support Reniko in her decision to try and help the Rük?”

“Because, in all honesty, I didn’t want to,” Rimca said. She sounded torn between anger and regret. She sounded a lot older than Malik had ever heard her sound before.

“I don’t understand? I thought you understood what Reniko was going through, what this means to her. I thought you knew that helping them is the only way Reniko can face what she has done. So why would you not want to help her?”

“Because it’s always about somebody else. Doesn’t anyone care how I feel about anything? You support her like every decision she makes is perfect, but you couldn’t possibly understand what other people suffered at the hands of those creatures, what I suffered.” Rimca was screaming and crying at the same time, Malik had never seen her like this before. Always her emotions had been so guarded, only her temper had ever gotten the better of her, and even then, Malik knew it was more for attention than for lack of control.

“They show no mercy, Malik, they never have and they never will. When I was kidnapped by them, they did terrible things to me, things that I can never get out of my head, nightmares that haunt me. When they were ravaging my body, the only solace I took from it all was that I would escape and kill every Rük I ever met from that day on, so they couldn’t hurt me again, so they couldn’t hurt my children, or the children of anyone on this planet. They are monsters, nothing more, and they deserve to die like the filthy beasts that they are.” Rimca slumped into a nearby chair crying into her hands. Malik reached out to her, but hesitated. He had never known, never asked, and he felt ashamed that he had taken her for granted all these years.

“Rimca, forgive me, you’re like a little sister to me and yet I don’t think I’ve ever treated you with any respect. If you felt that way, why didn’t you say so, to me, to Reniko, she would have understood. I understand.” Malik finally knelt down beside her and reached out to grab her shaking body. With his words came more tears, somehow it always came out wrong when he was talking to her.

“I didn’t… I couldn’t tell you. Queen Ulee told me to guard Reniko, to support her, and I swore I would. And I couldn’t tell Reniko anything because I love her, I respect her, and I couldn’t place my hatred on her. She would be more torn about what she is doing than ever. But mostly, I didn’t say anything because you asked me not to,” Rimca said. Malik froze.

“I never asked such a thing from you,” Malik said. “I would never ask you to disregard your feelings.”

“At the council meeting, I saw you pleading Reniko’s case to me. You saw my hesitation and asked and I couldn’t deny you. I could never say no to you.”

“I don’t understand,” Malik said. He was hugging Rimca tightly, trying with sheer will to stop her from crying, to stop her from telling him things he had always ignored because he couldn’t possibly return those feelings.

“You’ve always treated me like a sister, you said so yourself, but Malik I don’t see you as a brother. I’ve never told you because I knew it would never work, it couldn’t work, I’m a Le’a’to, your human, like a fish loving a bird. When Reniko came here, I saw the way you looked at her, and I hated her for that, or I tried really hard to hate her, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t hate her for loving you, I couldn’t hate you for loving her, but it hurt so much to know that the one person I loved I could never have. I love you Malik. I love you more than you could ever understand. I know that we can never be together, but can you give me just this one moment?” Rimca looked up at Malik, her eyes full of tears and she pressed her lips tightly on his, letting go years of unrequited love. He let her have it, this one moment, but when they parted he dropped his eyes from her.

“I’m sorry,” Malik whispered, the only words he could bring himself to voice.

“I’m not,” Rimca replied. She was smiling as she wiped tears from her eyes when Malik looked at her. “Malik I wanted you to be the first to know. I’m pregnant, something I have always wanted, but you could never have given me.” Without another word, before Malik could reply, Rimca ran from the room leaving him alone.

He was wondering aimlessly down the corridors, lost in the confusion of everything he had just learned from Rimca. He was paying no attention to where he was headed, but nevertheless found himself drawn to Reniko. She and Dertrik were sparring in one of the many courtyards that were within the castle walls, and when he finally heard the crash of their swords, he woke from his reverie. Reniko was his comfort, he told her everything and they worked it out together most of the time, but with this, could he really tell her all that Rimca had said? What she had done? He turned, realizing he couldn’t talk about this with her at all. However, Reniko, who had just won the spar, turned and saw Malik retreating.

“Malik,” she yelled and came running over to him. She was glistening with perspiration and when she finally caught up with Malik she used a cloth to wipe her face. “Are you ready to spar? How’s Rimca?”

Malik stopped and turned back to Reniko. Reniko looked at him concerned; she had never seen such a solemn look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Reniko asked. She traced her hand against the outline of his face and grabbed his hand.

“It’s nothing,” Malik replied and slid his hand from Reniko’s grasp. He turned his back on her and began to walk away.

“Malik what happened? Please don’t walk away from me,” Reniko said. She grabbed his hand again and he did not resist. Instead he went limp which frightened Reniko more. She grabbed him from behind and hugged him and all resistance fell away.

“It’s Rimca, she,” Malik hesitated, he knew no matter how he said it Reniko would not take it well. “Rimca’s pregnant.” That hadn’t been what he had meant to say. He wanted to tell her about the kiss, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t betray Rimca that way, but most of all he didn’t want to see the hurt in Reniko’s eyes.

Reniko looked at Malik confused. “Pregnant? Malik, that’s wonderful news. From the way you were acting I thought something horrible had happened. Is that really what was bothering you?”

“I can’t tell you. I can’t,” Malik replied. He pushed away from Reniko and began to retreat. Reniko stood where she was with her eyes downcast. She spoke softly, yet Malik still heard her.

“She confessed her love for you, didn’t she?” It hurt Reniko to say it, but not for the reasons Malik believed. Long before Reniko had fallen in love with Malik she had had her own conversation with Rimca. Rimca had told her that she was choosing to do her duty rather than chase after an unattainable love. Rimca knew that Malik would fall in love with Reniko and had therefore given her blessing to Reniko to fall in love with Malik.

“You knew?” Malik turned back to Reniko with a look of surprise on his face.

“That night when we were being chased by the Rük right after we left Mountain Side with Rimca, we had a talk. I knew she loved you and confronted her about it. I think that was the night she decided to grow up and do her duty rather than chase after childish dreams.”

“I always knew that Rimca felt more for me than just friendship, but I just never felt that way with her. I think, in a way, I was always waiting for you to come. Maybe Rimca felt that too.”

“It’s one of the reasons I think she was so angry when we first met,” Reniko replied.

“She knew that you were the one for me,” Malik said. He had walked back to Reniko now and was hugging her.

“She has an uncanny sense that way,” Reniko said.

“It’s a Le’a’to trait, they all have a way of knowing more than they let on.”

Reniko looked at Malik and grimaced. “I think Rimca has more of a talent with it than most. Is she okay, now?”

“I think she will be. I really believe she loves Abhek, and she did say she wanted a baby more than she could ever have loved me. I think she knows she made the right choices, but she doesn’t quite feel that yet.”

“All with time,” Reniko said. Malik nodded and they headed into the palace hand in hand.

Later that evening, Malik was waiting on the balcony for Reniko to appear, as they had promised earlier that day. The sun was setting and he watched as the light bled through the clouds turning them a deep crimson. When the final bit of light left the sky and the first of the stars began to dot the sky, Malik figured that she had forgotten. He thought he knew the reason why and so made his way to the archives, taking the lift to the medical lab. Reniko was leaning over a microscope frowning with concentration when the doors to the lift opened.

“This can’t be right –” Reniko muttered still unaware of Malik’s presence.

“Is everything all right?” Malik asked as he strode over to her. He leaned over her shoulder to try to glimpse what she was looking at. Startled, Reniko jumped and knocked the microscope on its side.

“Malik! I didn’t hear you come in,” Reniko said cleaning up her mess.

“I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t ruin anything important,” Malik said. He joined Reniko’s efforts to clean up. She put her arm across his chest stopping him and instead shoved a pair of gloves into his face.

“Don’t touch anything without gloves on. I’m working with some dangerous things in here, some of which are absorbed through the skin. And, no, you didn’t wreck anything important. I am just used to seeing things with my own eyes rather than on a computer screen. Here let me show you something.” Malik, who had just finished slipping on the gloves Reniko had handed to him, hurried after Reniko as she stood before one of the computer terminals. There seemed to be no discernible screen for the terminal; however, when Reniko activated it, three coiling strands hung suspended midair, information scrolling beside them.

Reniko hit a few buttons, making it so just the text remained. “I was doing extensive tests for any viral or bacterial agent, but as you can see, there looks to be no sign of them. That, of course, would have been too easy. With the symptoms that the Rük are suffering, and the fact that it’s just them that have it, I was pretty much just eliminating the possibility altogether. So I decided to review their DNA strands. If it’s a genetic disposition, which I am pretty sure it is, in most cases there wouldn’t be much I could do for them, but with what the Levanith have researched on gene therapy, I thought there might be a chance of helping them. You follow this?” Reniko asked when she saw the dazed look on Malik’s face. He was staring at the screen his head cocked to one side, a pose he normally took when digesting new information.

“I think so,” Malik said. “You know a lot of this information is in Levanith. I didn’t think you could read it.” Malik was pointing at a line of text that hadn’t been translated by the computer into English, the language that Reniko was using.

“Yeah, looks like I’m running into the same problem we did in Tordaskar. A lot of the info is coded, that’s why I’m glad you’re here,” Reniko said brightening up and giving Malik a mischievous grin. “I can’t read Levanith, but I know you can.”

Malik had been studying the language and had been slowly translating the coded archives into Vespian. But this was altogether different; there were a lot of scientific terms he had never run across before. Malik shrugged. “I could give it a try. No guarantees though.” Reniko smiled at him and Malik frowned. “Wait, this isn’t what we’re doing tonight is it? We were supposed to be spending time together, just the two of us.”

“Well it is just the two of us, Mal. It won’t be every night, but it is the only time that I have to do this sort of stuff without interruption.”

Malik sighed, a sure sign that he was about to give in. Pulling up a stool, he sat. “Okay, so what do you have to show me?”

Reniko squeezed his arm and sat down beside him. She pulled the image they had been looking at closer and enlarged a smaller section of the middle strand until it was broken up into a colour coded double helix. She pointed at some text that was still in Levanith by a mustard coloured portion of the helix, it seemed to be the only portion on the whole enlarged image that was that colour.

“The colours represent the different nucleotides used. There are supposed to only be four, adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine.” Reniko stopped and looked at Malik, he was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “Well, to get to the point, nucleotides in DNA determine what you look like, some of your likes and dislikes, and other personality traits. Now in most cases you’ll see a mutation, something completely abnormal that was copied wrong, somewhere along the line, which is what I supposed this to be,” Reniko said pointing to the mustard coloured nucleotide on the screen, “but now I’m unsure of that.”

“Why?” Malik asked.

“Because,” Reniko said and touched a symbol suspended in the air and they were again looking at the three DNA strands, their information moving slowly across the screen, “if you look here,” she pushed another button and Malik saw glowing dots form, peppered into each DNA strand, “not only are there more than there should be, they are all in the same part of the DNA strand.” She seemed pleased with herself and so Malik nodded thoughtfully.

“So are you saying they all have the same mutation?” Malik asked.

“Yes and no. If it was a naturally occurring mutation than with this many in the DNA strand, these subjects shouldn’t be alive. I think maybe these were placed there in a controlled environment. I think that all these Rük were the product of gene manipulation.”

“Who? Why?” Malik asked.

“Who else but Trokar, as to why, maybe he was starting to do to me what he did with them,” Reniko said touching her face, tracing the silver tattoo that Trokar had given her. Malik grabbed her hand and made her stop. He hated seeing her like this, lost in painful memories. “Control them.”

“So you think that the hive mind of the Rük wasn’t natural?” Malik said.

“It’s a possibility. I won’t be sure until you help me with some of the translations. Here, this line, what does it say,” Reniko was pointing to a line of text that had a direct correlation with the mutated nucleotides.

“They sure went to a lot of trouble to hide their research on this,” Malik said.

“What do you mean?” Reniko asked looking more thoughtfully at the displayed text.

“Well, normally Levanith isn’t written like this, this is more of an art form than writing.”

“Like calligraphy?” Reniko asked. Malik looked at her and shrugged, she had in fact used the English word, as there wasn’t a translation for the word in Vespian. “It’s a fancy form of writing we used back on Earth for special occasions.”

“That’s it exactly,” Malik said, she heard him mumbling ‘calligraphy’ to himself and she grinned.

“So what does it say?” Malik looked up and focused his attention back on the words in front of him.

“Well the first word is triasa, and the second I haven’t worked out yet.”

“And triasa would mean?” Reniko probed. She was really trying to be supportive, but her impatience was getting the better of her.

“Triasa niam-osa,” Malik exclaimed. “It’s three words not two. The best translation to Vespen I can give you is ‘protein unreal’.”

“A synthesized nucleotide?” Reniko was frowning. “What would that accomplish?”

Malik shrugged and glanced at a nearby computer terminal. Reniko had a pencil and paper beside it with some notes, but the screen was in Levanith, apparently she had been attempting to translate on her own. Malik glanced at what was written and realized she wasn’t getting very far. He read what she had done and shook his head.

“This is all wrong,” he muttered. Reniko came up beside him and frowned.

“You think I would understand it better, you know, me being Levanith and all.” She sighed.

“What did you think this was?” Malik asked as he changed seats to sit in front of the smaller, screen based work station.

“I wasn’t sure, but if you look, it has the same line of Levanith text that was displayed by the mutated nucleotides, ‘protein unreal’.” Reniko pointed to a line about a third of the way down the page.

“I was trying to figure out what this said,” Reniko said pointing to another commonly used word that appeared throughout the document, “but if everything else I translated is wrong than what I thought that was is probably wrong as well.”

Malik was looking intently at the word, so focused he barely heard Reniko talking over his shoulder.

“Malik are you listening to me?” Reniko finally asked when she realized that she wasn’t getting a response to her previous question.

“It’s not a word, Lyss, it’s a name,” Malik replied and turned to look at Reniko.

“Whose name?” Reniko asked. She had never seen Malik look so serious.

“Yours.”