And then all the settlement stories are completely derailed by Nuri. I’d had no idea that the fact that Nuri had exploded had leaked before KOTIS had any real idea what was going on, leading to a near-riot in one section of Unara.
Things calmed down a little after Maze had forwarded a preliminary summation of Korinal’s story, emphasising that it wasn’t an attack which could be turned on us. Not that this really stopped anyone from being frightened, but the lack of shielded underground bunkers made the threat seem less immediate.
Reaction to the Nurans seems mostly sympathetic. KOTIS released some images of the refugees being threatened by the massive, and I read a nice story about how the little care packages were assembled – incredibly quickly – and though there’s been occasional suggestions that Nuri contributed to its own destruction, none of the stories I’ve read lose focus on the terrible betrayal and loss.
I feel bad for laughing at a story that said Muinan settlement "comes with free orphan!", but it’s true enough. Anyone wanting to settle here is going to have to be vetted on their potential as foster parents or willingness to adopt. Though, given how many hoops you have to jump through to get permission to have more than one child on Tare, I don’t think that’s going to be a big drawback with Taren settlers.
Once the medics had cleared me, I found my own orphans on the edge of the common room patio watching Nils – who had offered to look after them for the day – trying to write the Taren alphabet in the mud with a stick. He wasn’t doing too badly, and said he was using a tracing program in the interface to show him the best method of forming each letter.
After thanking Nils I took them upstairs for dinner, asking – in approved Mum fashion – how their day had been. Ys tightened her lips stubbornly. Rye blushed. And Sen told me, in glorious and partly comprehendible detail, all about watching the new school building goopily growing, and their walk to the lake’s edge, and the bee in the flower, and the little speckled fish in the water, and the duck, and the stick vegetables for lunch, and Nils flying them to the top of the Setari building, and the fake lady called Tsana Dura who wanted to play games in her head.
Tsana Dura still wants to play games in my head, too, though she’s morphed into a slightly different fake lady – sterner and less fluffy – as I’ve progressed through the school years. She shares her lessons with a fake man named Tsana Ridel, and Dura and Ridel are these incredible institutions to Tarens – the entire planet shares the same two automated teachers for basic lessons from kindergarten to the end of high school. They were apparently created by averaging the voices and appearances of a few million Tarens.
There’s tons of Dura-Ridel smutfic. Rule 34 never fails.
Monday, August 25
Denied
The Nurans held a memorial service today. Not just for their dead, but for their world, and all that they had built and created for a thousand years. All of Nuri’s plants and animals, all their books and art and instruments. I didn’t understand the speeches very well, but I felt the raw loss in the voices of those who spoke.
Ys, Rye and Sen, who I’ve come to realise haven’t been as upset as most of the Nurans because all their care is tied up with each other, were still very grave and quiet, and sat with me and Kaoren at the edge of the crowd. Even though I’m furious about Ys and Rye’s injuries, I don’t want to keep them away from Nurans generally – or let them isolate themselves, as I’m fairly sure they’d prefer to do. I’m not sure if the talent school is the best way to go about it, though.
For the moment my parenting efforts have mainly involved keeping Sen occupied so Ys and Rye can learn to their heart’s content. They’ve been attacking learning to read with such grim determination that I’d been starting to worry I’d have to put some limits on their lessons, but they stayed off the interface for the service, and took a break afterwards, distracted by the paper planes I was making for Sen.
I’ve still yet to see either of them smile or laugh, but it was the most relaxed they’ve been with me, totally absorbed by the mechanics of paper airplanes, and reproducing the other origami shapes I created for them. They’re tremendously interested in everything, but seem to consider it vital not to show it. Kaoren says they’re approaching learning like a starving man gorging himself on food: racing to swallow everything before it’s taken away.
Late this afternoon I took the flower Sen had given me, all limp and flopping, and gave it to Islen Dola over at Botany. He was very pleased, and said that even though the seeds weren’t fully matured, there was more than enough genetic material to reproduce it. So one more tiny bit of Nuri will survive.
We ate dinner down in the common room this evening, with Sen wandering about charming everyone within reach, and Ys and Rye sitting together enduring being looked at by Setari from three worlds. Since Setari do training with Kalrani, it’s not as if they’re not all used to dealing with children, but playing foster parent is an entirely different matter, and of course Fourth Squad don’t know what to make of the whole thing.
Even with so many orphans needing care, I doubt the kids would be allowed here if it wasn’t for the combination of the rarity of Sen’s Sight, which Kaoren is one of the few people ideal to nurture, and my involvement. I sometimes imagine the conversations KOTIS Command has about me. I’m mostly shielded from my own uniqueness by the Setari, who treat me with more pragmatism than deference, but I’m well aware that I could trade on my own importance to get an awful lot of things. And that as often as not it doesn’t even have to occur to me to try, because KOTIS now watches me very closely and tries to make sure I don’t even have a chance to get unhappy.
Today I’m glad of that, and I mean to take advantage of it.
Friday, August 29
Over There
Having to do a bit of catch-up.
Tsur Selkie’s been conducting my visualisation sessions, usually with Zee along, and a couple of other people for guarding purposes. Kaoren usually isn’t involved, but came for my attempt to visualise Earth, mainly because he correctly expected me to be upset. Lohn and Maze were along as guards, and two Nuran observers as well, Korinal and Inisar. Inisar’s recovering steadily – although his burns were painful, his main health issues were due to being chained to a wall and not fed much. He’s still not close to fighting fit – or even good brisk walk fit – but he was able to come and watch me having family moments.
And he was wearing a Taren Setari nanoliquid uniform, which was highly disconcerting, but the best thing to ensure he stays warm in the Ena. All of the Nuran Setari are going to have the interface installed, even though they all seem to share Inisar’s opinion that it’s a "distortion". I find that fascinating – they think it will make them less human, but they’re going to have it installed anyway because they know it will make them more effective in combating the Cruzatch. Like someone drinking demon blood so they can fight monsters.
They’re taking turns to have it installed so they won’t all be out of commission at the same time.
The Nurans were there because they want to observe me being a touchstone, but it was an awkward audience for me while all keyed up and emotional about the possibility of seeing my family. I’d had a lot of trouble sleeping, too, and been fretting all morning while Kaoren was off on another Cruzatch-hunt with Fourth and combined First-Second. I’d nominated a particular time for the session, to coincide with 7.00 pm Sydney time (hoping I was right about it not currently being daylight savings time) because at 7.00 Mum usually kicks Jules off the X-Box and watches the news.