Spacial Illusions

Chapter Seven

NOT PROPERLY EDITED

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Callisto sat on the steps of her porch in exhaustion, blankly watching the midnight rains find the chinks in the foliage armor of the canopy. It hardly rained on Earth, and when it did the pollution turned it into acid rains so potent that it could dissolve entire fields in a single shower. On the farm she grew up on they had to make a huge and complex greenhouse to filter out the chemicals and protect the product.

"You look tired, child." The deep and sultry voice if Cordal jolted the female from her trance and memories. Once she realized who had spoke, the alien girl hastily knelt down with her head bowed. He leaned down to gently bring her out of her folded position and motioned for her to sit with him. Callisto returned to her spot on the stairs while Cordal tucked his legs beneath him and shuffled to find a comfortable position for himself.

"I did not mean to scare you, child, my apologies." She quickly waved off his apology and explained that it was her fault for drifting away with the sounds of the rain. "If you do not mind, may I ask what had you so enthralled?"

"Just comparing the drastic differences between Earth and here. It barely rained there, and even then the water was sour and dangerous to everything it touched."

"Do you miss it?" Cordal asked, holding out his hand to let the cold rainwater slip through his fingers and down his arm to drip off his elbow. "Do you miss Earth? The life you left behind?" This made Callisto lightly scoff and stare down at her blue mountain lion-esque feet.

"The life I left behind? I didn't have one. As a kid I was farmed out to a strict and strange old lady until I was old enough to enlist in the army. It was my only ticket out of that place. Then I spent the rest of my life following orders and doing as I was told. I was the perfect soldier until the mission here, then I lost my entire Regiment in less than a day. They were good people, they didn't deserve that kind of death." Cordal politely listened to her story, he didn't make a sound until she finished her tale and Callisto noted that he got a far away cloud to his eyes as she mentioned losing her friends and Regiment. It was a look of a leader who knew all too well to emptiness of losing those close to you.

"Some things are beyond our control, it seems. But you can control how you experience Praesidium. Making new friends- like Deimos and Europa for example."

"How do you-" Cordal's deep chuckle cut her off as the rain stopped like it always did, suddenly and swiftly.

"There is very little that I am not aware of. These are my people, and a good leader knows them all in one way or another. You're good for each other, the three of you. You help them accept themselves, genes and all. And if you let them, they can help you as well."

"Help me with what? I don't have an issue with who I am." The look Cordal gave her told Callisto he didn't buy her words, and that not even she believed her own lie.

"Nobody leaves everything behind as soon as possible if they had no issue with who they were being molded into. Not to mention you are an alien on a planet that has so far only given you scars and pain. They can help you see the good things in yourself and in our home."

"Is this how you became the leader here? Silver tongues and soothing words?" Cordal softly smiled at her question, he knew she didn't mean it to sound harsh or condescending but there were underlying tones of both in her words. It was understandable, he didn't look to be the strongest of the village yet everyone respected him as such and followed in his footsteps wherever he may lead.

"No, I became leader in a much more violent way. Our last one had died while trying to take the Mors Magna. He never named a successor and so the village was in chaos for weeks. Everyone wanted to take the mantle for themselves- me included. All who vied for the honor did so through battles, fights to the death. I had the blood of friends on my hands that day and it is a truth that I will spend eternity amending for. I looked at myself then and, much like you, did not like who I had become. Silver tongues and soothing words is how I wash my hands of the old me." Callisto was amazed by his story, by his tainted past. He seemed so calm and collected in the pacifist light that she had a hard time imagining him killing to be where he was now.