The glare of the sun dazzled my eyes for a moment, until I got used to the light enough to see the city of the columbas. Surrounded by trees, hundreds of purple wooden houses that looked like they were made for dolls sprawled across the grass, connected by cobblestone streets to a mansion barely reaching my waist. The fertile land of that world sang in the rustle of every leaf, in a forest refuge; an Itopis refuge.
As soon as they noticed us, the columbas flew in a chaotic whirlwind of white feathers and chirping.
"What are they saying?" Kadi asked me, while my translator only came across noises outside its database.
Some of the creatures landed on our heads as if to make nests and dug into our skin with their claws. I felt my mind being invaded by needles that seemed to pinch my brain and I tried to free myself, but they only broke free of us and flew in a stampede after they got what they wanted. I stared at Kadi, who had the same question on his face as I did.
When a columba with wings larger than the rest emerged from the small mansion with her silver feathers gleaming in the sun, I knew she was the one to doom us. Her body floated toward us as if the air were her servant until she stopped before me, her owl eyes studying me.
"What do you want in our world?" She whispered in our human language, learned instantly as if it had always been hers... Probably because she had copied it from the minds of those who actually always had her.
I stared at Kadi, not knowing how to respond. The truth was not an option.
"We want to... Meet him." I tried, smelling my lie in the air. Could columbas be able to perceive it too?
The leader approached me, scrutinizing me, and when she thought she knew everything she needed about me, she made her decision:
"So welcome!" When I released the air trapped in my lungs my relief blew through her feathers. "Today we will feast!"
• • • ֍ • • •
Behind the little mansion the columbas led us to a circle on the grass where they joined. I sat cross-legged and Kadi imitated me, as suspicious as I was. We not only looked like aliens in that world, but we felt too.
The columbas brought unknown fruits that had the most diverse shapes, sizes, colors and smells, mixing in an orchestra of aromas in the air. When the creatures started to help themselves, asking us with their eyes to do the same, Kadi reached up to obey, but then I touched his hand, warning him that it wasn't a good idea. Everything in this world could be poisonous to us, however sweet it may seem; and, being fragile as we were, we had to be careful.
"Call me Plumala." Said the leader columba. "What do you want to know about our world?" She had sounded so helpful I felt awful for not having anything to ask her about. But Kadi, managed to think of something:
"How is your world so heavenly and peaceful?"
"I imagine that our pacifism is as foreign to you as the brutality of the universe is to us. Not long ago we became aware of the worlds that make up the Empire... And the cruelties that their peoples commit." Plumala reflected. "See these trees? We create them from seeds in the coldness of our labs, because this world would never have made them." I flew my eyes over those purple trees that surrounded us, where I would never have imagined there was so much knowledge of manipulating the codes of nature. "We built them to change our atmosphere and make this world our refuge."
My spine snapped straight. Atmosphere?! We were so used to the uniformity of the Itopis' worlds that we forgot about the weapon that could be in what we didn't see. I almost got up to bolt right then and there, but Kadi touched my arm, letting me know this was a bad idea.
"What's in this atmosphere?" I growled.
"Do not worry. The substance was made only for the beings of this world. You will not be affected." Something in her sincerity reassured me more than it should... And I was taken by a new feeling: that I could trust without fear of being wrong, at least once in my life. "It makes creatures docile and encourages them to adapt to a world where destruction is not tolerated." What happened to those who didn't adapt? Perhaps the same thing that happened when they failed on other worlds; only now in the name of peace. What sacrifices could be forgiven for a better universe? "Is your world brutal like the others or does it strive for peace like ours?"
Kadi and I stared at each other.
"I don't think either of them describes ir well..."
"So you have a lot to learn from us."
After the feast, I nodded to Kadi, asking to speak with him in private, and he followed me away from the creatures. After checking that none of them were paying attention to us, I walked over to whisper:
"I don't think it's right to deceive the columbas..."
Kadi stared at me with a smile, as if my remorse for deceiving those creatures was just innocence. He approached a bush of pale flowers and plucked a small bunch, turning back to me with his fingers stroking the velvety petals as if his hands had never held anything more precious.
"So delicate..." He whispered, snuggling her up. "They don't have to lie like us, who, on Earth, lie on stages, in governments, in the houses of the gods who were venerated before the Empire... However, we don't lie because we need to survive, but because we like to believe in the lies we tell; until the truth is nothing more than the creation of an idealist... Flowers don't have to lie. And these ones, specifically, don't even need thorns..." He plucked some from the bunch. "And, so easy, I can crush them." Then his hand closed around the separated flowers, opening it to reveal the crushed plants. Kadi dropped the remnants onto the grass and handed me the rest of the bunch that remained untouched. "Every time you look at them, don't think about how delicate they are, but how dangerous you are in comparison; and how much more dangerous you need to be in order not to be crushed by worse beings."
I swept my eyes over the flowers and back to Kadi when I felt a smile growing on my face.
"All this to give me flowers?"
The corner of her lips curled up reluctantly.
"I should have given you the crushed ones..."
Which would still be flowers.
At that moment the columbas approached and I let them take me away. With eyes refusing to let go of me, Kadi was also carried away by the columbas. And as we were separated, I realized that I must have been more worried than I really was... But I understood these creatures' quest for peace. How could I fear them?
I was guided to the feet of a weeping willow tree, covered in bluish flowers that hung from the branches and covered the grass in a soft layer. The creatures wrapped vines in my hair and braided it like I was an ancient princess, worthy of that treatment. I wondered what they could want from me in exchange for so much kindness... But maybe, in a world like that, designed to be a refuge, they would give without expecting anything in return.
"Are my daughters treating you well?" Plumala paid me off, greeting the other creatures by touching her forehead with theirs.
"Why do you do this?" I asked, curious.
"That's how we confess our connection to each other." She revealed. "There is no greater trust than that which one needs to have to give your mind to another being, your most fragile and precious possession, to be touched without being destroyed... And that is what we always want to pass on to each other."
How could I fear creatures like that?
"And there are only female columbas?"
"Of all our embryos, only those born in winter become males. And when new generations come, they die." My eyes widened.
"You never tried to save them?"
"Several times... But some beings were not made to last through the time..." She explained with the old pain of losing what could never be saved. "And you humans? How is your world like?"
"Well... We value life..." I tried to make a better advertisement for humanity than it really was, but I didn't know if I completely believed it.
"So you avoid wars?"
"The best of us try..."
"I imagine you are among them."
I felt the heat of her words and let my eyes fall to the flowers Kadi had given me. I hoped Plumala was right about me... But if Kadi was right about the universe, then I wouldn't last long in it.
At that moment an agitation alerted us.
A few columbas emerged, bringing Kadi in a chaotic flurry – with the flowers they'd tried to put in his hair falling to the ground – and Korrok. I jumped up.
"He was trying to free the prisoners." Said one of the columns that held Korrok. "And he said that the humans are with him."
Bastard.
One of the columbas transmitted the language of the vorrampe to Plumala.
"What do you want my soldiers for?!" Korrok growled. "They're only good for killing enemies! And I don't think you, with your flowers and berries, need them!"
As if dealing with a child, the leader explained gently:
"We need them to build the temple of the God of Winter, or else, when the season comes, we will be cursed with the infertility of our lands."
When the Empire swallowed the world of the columbas and wiped the God of Winter from their history, they would no longer have to worry about it. Or maybe he was just a metaphor for the curses that winter always brought, and the Empire would just take away their hope that they could stop it.
I thought Korrok was going to explode, but before he could, Kadi spoke up:
"I have an idea..." All eyes fell on him. "The columbas can join the revolution and, in return, the vorrampes give them what they need to deal with the winter."
Korrok stared at him as if Kadi was stupid.
"They are not advantageous to the point that we need to make sacrifices to recruit them, Phaga!" The vorrampe roared.
"You don't know enough about them then." I replied, drawing their eyes to me. "The columbas manipulated the atmosphere of this entire world! They can build biological bombs! Far more powerful than claws and teeth!"
Korrok was silent for a moment, which was a very good sign. I sent a look to Kadi, who was smiling discreetly as we plotted our way out of this situation.
But then Plumala's words ripped out our smiles:
"How can we trust beings that don't even eat our fruits?" She let out a sigh that brought the centuries of violence from her world back into the atmosphere. And then her words revealed them: "Long ago, before my world had laws, two villages lived in conflict in the valley of the forest's heart. When their hatred was more intense than they could control, villagers clipped their enemies' wings. And the retribution was always the same, for years and years... One day, when the rains were more intense than usual and the river overflowed all over the valley, the two villages were completely flooded... And no one had wings to fly away." Plumala sighed, blowing that ancient death in our faces. "Nothing will take us to war again."
While I didn't know what to say, Kadi approached the tree that covered us and took a bluish fruit from one of its low branches. He cleaned its surface on his jacket and, without even blinking, took a bite out of it, breaking the border with a crunchy snap to make way for his tongue. He stared at me as he savored the forbidden, wiping the corner of his lip where the nectar ran and licking the danger on his fingertips as if death were just an obstacle in the way of victory. And then he turned to the columba, which was staring at him in disbelief at his courage.
"You changed the entire nature of your planet in search of a better world. We're just trying to do the same. For the Empire." Maybe he was lying to convince the columbas, but I couldn't escape the thought that I really wanted that... Although by other means. "So, if you agree to destroy creatures of your own world to build your refuge, why can't you help us to conquer ours? Why can't you lend us your wings so we can fly too?"
Plumala watched him for a moment so long it felt like an eternity, maybe waiting for him to collapse poisoned, or perhaps considering trusting those who trusted her. At some point, the leader of the columbas finally decided to spare us from the silence and whispered:
"What will we get in return?"