Alien Barbarian’s Little Human

Zaya

“It’s weird, but I’ve always thought of Tlisan as an island.”

“That is weird.” Sorsha laughs. “Why do you think that is?”

“I don’t know. Just always have. I remember coming over the ring of mountains with my parents, just after we’d been in Ocean Kingdom. I thought, ‘This is the real island. Not that place.’”

Before we’d arrived to the Mountain Kingdom, we’d traveled for years like nomads from one realm to another, not out of adventure but necessity. My parents never lost faith that the next place would hold the key to restoring my health. It wasn’t until we got to Tlisan, a settlement of humans in the Mountain Kingdom, that I finally began to get better.

In the Mountain Kingdom, the Kiphians mostly mind their own affairs. They don’t love humans, but they don’t despise us either. They’re indifferent for the most part.

As soon as we crossed over to the other side of the mountain, I knew I’d never want to leave. I’ve pretty much stayed put for the twenty years since.

“I never really had much to compare it to, since I grew up here,” Sorsha says. “That’s the only thing I like about Cygoth. Makes you grateful to be back in Tlisan.”

“And that’s where Talan is? In Cygoth?”

I’m there to help Sorsha with the children while Talan is gone. I’m here most days anyway, though, since Sorsha offered me an unused part of their home for studio space. Ever since she went missing, along with her memories for a time, I get the sense that familiar faces help her feel grounded.

“Yes, he’s in the capital.” Sorsha purses her lips uncomfortably, so I don’t press further.

I turn to the mosaic on the floor, positioning stones I extracted from nearby quarries and caverns to create a landscape portrait of the mountains nearby. I hold out my arms to block the children from crashing into it every so often.

“?”

“Hmm?” I keep arranging.

“Can I tell you something, and you promise you won’t get mad?”

I hate when anyone asks that. How can I promise not to get mad before I know what’s coming? But Sorsha always convinces me to make an exception somehow.

“I’ll try my best.” I smile, but she still looks uneasy.

“Okay. You know how I told you about the Prince’s sick daughter last week?”

I nod. “Yeah. And I told you it reminded me of some things from the historic accounts.”

“Yeah, with the electrical impulses and how they used minerals to repair the body.”

“Yes. Although those books are probably more legend than fact.”

“Maybe. The thing is, I told Talan about what you told me. And he offered to tell Prince Taurek.” She pauses and looks at her hands. “He’s in Cygoth to see if the Prince wants your help. It just all happened so quickly, and the next thing I knew, he was gone.”

“Oh, Sorsha.” I’m silent, trying to make sense of what’s happening. “I don’t know anything about medicine. I’ve read things in books, but I don’t even know if they’re true. I doubt I can do much.”

“I mean, they’re rooted in real things, right? And hardly anyone else has ever read them. And you’re better than scientists with the elements. And then there’s your history…”

I give her a dark look. Illness defined my identity for so long as a child that I bristle at letting it define me as an adult, except for playing a role in healing it.

Since I grew up in a sick bed, I’d always wanted to learn the art and science of medicine to find cures for diseases, but it’s not anything I ever had the means for. I never want to be on the other side of illness again.

She doesn’t back down. “You know what it’s like to be desperate for answers when your body fails you.”

Even though she’s right, I’m reluctant. The job’s too big, and the costs of failure are too high.

“I’m sure others know a lot more. And what if I do the wrong thing and get blamed? I could get banished. And what if it doesn’t work? That’s on top of how long I’ll be there, whether I’ll get paid…”

“I didn’t think it through that far. I just know Talan left this morning. But maybe they won’t be interested.”

An unfamiliar whoosh and electric hum from outside pierce the quiet.

“You think it’s Talan?” she asks optimistically, but I have my doubts.

When I look out, I’m shocked to see the royal shuttle, which by all accounts isn’t supposed to even work. It bears the seal of the Thane of Mountain Kingdom, a stylized crown of several metals perched on the peak of Taro’s Point.

“Sorsha. What do I do?”

“Invite them in. I’ll put on some flower tea.”

“I’ll tell them you’re the one they’re looking for, okay?” She waves her hand dismissively and scurries to the kitchen, leaving me to speak with the two Kiphian guards. They wear sumptuous, blindingly white silk uniforms threaded with thin filaments of silver fibers.

I’m allergic to anything with the slightest hint of airs. These guards practically put me in a state of anaphylactic shock.

“We come by royal decree of His Majesty Prince Taurek of Cygoth. Are you familiar with a healer by the name of ?”

“Yes. I’m very familiar. Although she’s not a healer, just a simple artisan. But please, come in.”

They nod and agree gruffly.

Their seven-foot frames dwarf Sorsha’s modest house. I’m praying she gets back with the tea soon. Being mated to an important Kiphian, she has far more experience kissing ass with representatives from the capital than I do.

“We went to the home of but failed to find her. So, we came to the source of our information.” He looks at me, uncertain. “And you are Sorsha, Talan’s mate…?”

Just then, Sorsha glides in balancing the tray of tea, while her two small children run in front of her in brightly colored smocks smeared with clay.

“Welcome! I’m Sorsha.” She places down the blue and yellow tray, which I made as a gift for their mating ceremony. “I’ve made tea. Have some.”

They each grab a mug, which are comically small in comparison to their large hands.

“You’re the mate of Talan?” The guards’ demeanor brightens, as if having hybrid children and a Kiphian mate of high status somehow cleanses her of the human frailties. It’s exactly why I have no interest in going to Cygoth.

“That’s me, yes.”

“And you know this ? Where can we find her?”

With a confused expression, Sorsha looks at me and points. “She’s right here.”

A guard, also puzzled, addresses me directly. “Lady , it’s a matter of urgency that you come with us.”

“Can I have details? I’d like to know more before I make my choice. And it’s just .”

“Do you have obligations here? Surely someone can –”

The sound of clopping hooves grows louder, and I’m hoping it’s Talan. They wouldn’t enlist security to force me to go if I refuse, would they?

“Papa!” Sorsha and Talan’s children smother their father in hugs as he opens the door.

“Hello, hello, little ones!” he cries to the children swarming him. He looks at the two Kiphian guards. “Ah, I see they’re here. I hoped I’d beat them.”

“We took the shuttle,” a guard answers.

“It’s working?” Talan asks incredulously, then scoops up a child in each arm.

“After Her Royal Highness Princess Hanai fell ill, the Thane ordered it repaired.”

“Sirs, would you excuse us for a moment?” Talan motions to me and Sorsha, then indicates that he wants us to follow him into another room.

“Yes, but make it brief. His Royal Highness the Prince is waiting.”

Talan rolls his eyes. “His Royal Highness can wait a few more minutes. Just because he’s used to getting his way doesn’t mean he has to get it immediately.”

My eyes flare as we make our way down the hall. “Please tell me what’s going on. First, I learn that I’ve been volunteered as a royal medic, then I’m being hauled away like I’m accused of a crime?”

“I thought there’d be more time before they got here.”

“Apparently not. Do I even have a choice?”

Talan’s face turns serious. “You always have a choice. But if you knew this child, I think you’d want to. I’ve known her since she was born.”

“Another spoiled Princess?”

“No. The opposite. She’s part of why I wanted children.” Talan looks at Sorsha, who takes his hand. “Since she was born, Hanai was always inexhaustible. Scaling the walls of the castle, building statues with clay, making up wild stories. But when I saw her…”

Talan shakes his head. By the look on his face alone, I already know I won’t be able to say no.

“How was she?”

“It’s like her body was there. But all the life was slowly leaking out.”

It reminds me of things people whispered about me, not knowing or not caring if I heard. Being treated like a problem to be solved, not a person, shaped me. I can only imagine the types of things this child has seen.

“The way you talked about your childhood, , and then what Sorsha said you’d read. And if the cure involves minerals, like you said. No one knows more. I’ve known a lot of so-called learned folks. None of them are as smart as you.”

Sorsha looks at me pleadingly, and I can tell she’s thinking about what she would do if one of her own children were ill. The silence is interrupted by the children bursting in, hugging my legs. If it were one of them, I’m sure I’d do everything.

“He’s one of my oldest friends, . If anything happens, I’ll never forgive myself,” Talan says.

I sigh and hug them before we re-enter the main room. The guards stare expectantly.

“I’m willing to come with you to Cygoth. But I need to get some things first. And I’m going to ask you a million questions on the way.”