Andrea Höst - The Touchstone Trilogy

I was too tired for it (contributing no end to the talk about how horrible I look) because I’d woken up a few hours after midnight to sit with Lira, who was having a terrible time. I took her down to medical, but they’re still very unwilling to give any form of pain relief during interface installation, and because she’s taken a strong dislike to medical (no surprise there) I took her back up to our rooms and sat out on the balcony with her.

Lira didn’t particularly want to talk to me, just wanted not to be alone until she was finally exhausted enough to fall asleep. Thankfully the interface installation has completed, which not only means that she no longer has the headache from hell, but she has some incredibly distracting new toys to play with. Ys, Sen and Rye have all been very quick to show her the things they find most special about the interface, and she and Ys spent most of the ceremony talking silently to each other.

If I hadn’t been semi-conscious, I suppose I would have found the thanksgiving ceremony quite touching. Even the huge Moon Piazza isn’t nearly big enough to fit Pandora’s entire population any more, but the main ceremony was there, and there were multiple other gatherings across the city, along with a broadcast. The provisional council is a mix of three Tarens, three Kolarens and three Nurans nominated to draft and recommend laws (although they have to be ratified by KOTIS for some time to come). They did most of the speaking, but kept it relatively short, and then someone sang and I was just wondering if I could get away with falling asleep leaning against Kaoren when they announced me as the next speaker. Kaoren promises me he would have warned me if he’d known, but it was my own fault for not reading my email. Or their fault for having ceremonies in the mid-morning.

So I went up looking like a car-wreck survivor, with extra circles under my eyes from lack of sleep, and my voice all croaky. I’ve never stood up before that many people, and only got through it by focusing on the black-clad rows at the front.

"It’s nearly a full Muinan year since I first saw Pandora’s old town," I said. "It was the first sign of civilisation I’d found. I was so glad. And it was so empty." I paused, looking past the Setari to the endless swell of people, most sitting on cushions or the stone paving. "Even after I was found by the Tarens, I still felt alone, because everyone I cared about was on another world, and I couldn’t speak the language, and everything was strange. Some very kind people put a lot of effort into making me feel less alone, but I missed my family and I just wanted to go home. I’m not sure I would have believed a day like today could come so quickly. That Muina would not be an empty world, and that I could stand here and look out and in every direction see people who mattered to me, who have become part of a very extended family, and that they would have made this place home. I am so lucky to know you all, and I am very glad to be here."

That’s totally not the speech I would have made if I’d put any thought into it, and I was bright red at the end of it, and got off stage as quickly as I could manage before I burst into tears. I could tell from the way Kaoren’s eyes were nearly shut that he’d thought me tremendously funny, but he tucked me under his arm and Sen came and sat in my lap and I hid behind her. My punishment for looking so sick and exhausted during the ceremony was to be sent off to medical afterwards, where I promptly fell asleep.

Kaoren woke me in time for bedtime stories, and having finished the Kolaren story I began the rather challenging task of translating The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe . My Taren is still a little shaky on complex dialogue (and some of the scans were blurry), but it went reasonably well with only a few extended tangents for explanations of exotic concepts like lions. Fortunately the version we’d scanned was illustrated.

I ended up with five engrossed listeners, since Kaoren is very interested in Earth’s stories as well. I want to read them every story I loved growing up. I think that more than anything else will finish making this home.

Kaoren’s asleep now, busy looking gorgeous. The squads are all back on duty tomorrow, and the platforms have been very obliging about starting to work again. Kaoren will be working at Kalasa. They want me to do some visualisations of Tare and Kolar as well, but the "she’s too injured" people are currently winning the argument.

Saturday, November 8

Education

Kaoren was at Kalasa most of the day, while almost every strong Telekinetic and Levitation talent was off in Mesiath clearing trees and seeding and feeding whitestone. Mori and Alay were my guards – I failed to win the "I don’t need babysitters" argument, but so long as I stay inside the building I don’t have to have them sitting right on me. Alay says I can consider them the day’s trainers, though with an arm in a sling and ribs protesting whenever I bend even slightly, it’s more training for the kids at the moment.

Rye’s fine with anyone giving him combat training, but both Ys and Lira are very doubtful about the whole thing. I told them that knowing how to beat up anyone who might attack them is a good thing, and Alay laughed at me and said I should take my own advice.

Alay’s laughing a lot more these days.

We’ve set a tentative date of five days from now for the kids to start attending the talent school again, since that should give Lira some time to adjust to the interface, and to just be more comfortable with being here. I can tell that Ys hates the idea, but is being very good about not arguing or showing how she feels. If anything, she seems even less eager to go than before.

Discussing the school has started me thinking about Rest Of My Life issues. I’m sure to have a fairly full schedule being Mum and whatever touchstone duties I can’t get out of, but I am thinking through a few possibilities for other things to do.

We’re waiting up now, until all the kids are thoroughly asleep, and we can put Rye' birthday present in his room.

Sunday, November 9

With Candles

Rye’s reaction this morning was so much fun. He woke before we did, and came running into our room, excited beyond words and then was too overcome to wake us up and stood there gasping, which did wake us up. And then he couldn’t speak, and when Kaoren sat up and put a hand on his head and said: "Welcome to your honour day" (the Taren equivalent of Happy Birthday ), he flung his arms around him, and then got incredibly shy and tried to pretend he hadn’t. Kaoren hugged him carefully, and helped me up so I could too.

Rye’s present was a terrarium – one we’d had great difficulty fitting into his room and inspired by Taarel’s particularly magnificent one. We’d spent the last few days arranging for the plastiglass tank and the lights, and consulting with the botanic experts about plant selection. Once it had been assembled and planted up, Lohn and Mara had kept it in their room, and brought it in to us when the kids were asleep. They got a big kick out of the whole thing, and it was definitely a present which Rye appreciated. He was particularly amazed by one of the plants, a small-leafed ground cover with some little daisy flowers sticking up on slender stems. This was something called "gilly", which is a Nuran herb, and which the technicians very kindly resurrected from the flower Sen had given me, way back when I first met her. They’re actually quite pleased with it, and I gather it was a useful cooking ingredient on Nuri. Rye has one of the first clones they managed to construct, and most of the rest of his plants are Muinan herbs. Looking after them all will be exactly the kind of thing he most likes.