"Next week..."
"No, not just for the.... Everyone ... attend."
".... Perfect opportunity. Gather the ... We must..."
Ashima wasn't sure if she was awake and hearing muffled voices or if she was dreaming. Her head felt like she was swimming. When had she fallen asleep? Where was she again?
Memories were trying to return but she was still too sleepy. Hadn't she been struggling to sleep? Why was she struggling to wake now?
"Good afternoon, sleepy head."
A woman's voice came from closer by. It was clearer than the others. Were they speaking to her?
"Ashima." The voice said in a sing-song tone.
"How much did you give her?" A man's voice sounded from nearby.
"The amount I was told to." The woman sounded irritated.
"Perhaps her human anatomy requires a smaller dosage. We can't give her the next dose like this. Return in half an hour."
"What if..."
She didn't hear the rest of the conversation. Sleep took her once again.
~~~~~
"I'm not going to a celebration."
"We don't expect you to sing and dance and put on a show, Kietnan but we want you to come. We need our people to see us as a united front, no matter how things are behind the scenes. Just sit through dinner and then you can leave." Kahal tried persuading his brother.
"United front?" Kietnan scoffed.
"You know I am on your side, brother. But our people need this. You won't have to speak with anyone, I'll make it so. Just promise me you'll think about it. For me."
"Fine, I'll think about it."
Kahal clasped his hands together and smiled broadly. "Thank you, brother. Now, while you're feeling agreeable-"
"No."
"You do not know what I was going to say."
"You were going to ask me to leave this room."
"But you don't know where."
"It doesn't matter. I'm busy."
"Busy?"
"Yes."
Kahal stared at his brother as he sat there staring out of the window.
"Leave me before I decide to no longer think about going to this celebration."
Kahal grumbled as he stood up. "Fine, fine. I'll leave you be. But promise me the next time I come visit, you will go for a walk with me. Outside. In the fresh air."
"Fine."
"Really?"
"Yes, yes. Now go."
"Ok. Be well, brother."
Kietnan waited five minutes after his brother left before quietly opening his door and looking up and down the hall. With no one in sight he quickly left his room and headed straight to the library.
Once inside he brought up the historical records on when the Aerulians visited.
A few minutes in, he jumped when a voice sounded behind him. "I knew you were trying to get rid of me."
Kietnan glanced over his shoulder before continuing his research as Kahal entered the room.
"And what is it you hope to achieve by researching all of this?"
Kietnan rubbed his head. "I'm not expecting much. But since I am not allowed anywhere near that beacon, all I can do is research everything I can in an effort to just feel like I am doing something. Anything to feel like I'm not just letting her go willingly. Anything I can do to not be so angry with myself for being so useless."
"I see." After a long pause Kahal continued. "Have you spoken to mother and father yet?"
"I hardly see a reason to."
"At least give father a moment of your time, he is full of guilt and regret. He wants to apologize."
"And I should just put him out of his misery? I see a reason to give him relief from his pain when I cannot receive any."
"It is unlike you to be petty, brother."
"Petty." He chuckled. "I am hardly myself these days. I fear I never will be again." He said sadly.
"Perhaps, if you speak with Father you can convince him to use the beacon."
At this, Kidman finally turned away from the images and text he was pretending to study and faced his brother with a sigh. "To what purpose?"
"How could you possibly ask what purpose?"
"She wanted to leave, Kahal. Even if she did want to say goodbye, she wanted to leave." He turned his back to his eldest brother and had the library pull up the images of their solar system.
"Brother..." Kietnan spoke softly, sadly.
"It is true. I may know that she loved me in return, but I also know she would not have been happy staying here with me. Our people were too cruel, too prejudiced. They pushed her away and she never would have felt like this was her home."
"You are trying to rationalize this."
"And what is it I am supposed to do instead?"
Kahal sighed. "Just start by talking with Father. Make amends. Or at least just let him speak his mind and get it over with."
"And Mother?"
"She will come around. You know how stubborn she becomes when she realizes she made a mistake. It takes her ages to admit it."
Kietnan scoffed as he sat on the floor and leaned against a wall. "It hardly seems she will ever. Which is exactly my point. Ashima didn't want to stay here and cause division amongst our family, or our people. She was obviously wise in her predictions. Now leave, and let me wallow in my uselessness a little longer. Sitting here looking at space makes me feel closer to her."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ashima, how are you feeling?"
"How long was asleep? I feel terrible."
"Perhaps everything you've gone through is just catching up with you now that you're with us, in a safe environment. I'm sure you needed the rest. Here is some water, a pain reliever, and some soup.
"Thank you. I'm sure that will help." But once she took a bite, she ended up eating the entire bowl of soup. "How long did you say I've been sleeping?"
"There, I'm sure you're feeling better already with a full stomach and refreshment. But, I'm sure your head is still pounding after all of that deep sleep, take the pain reliever and we will talk about everything. About what happened and how we can get you back to your people.
Ashima nodded. Putting the pill in her mouth and swallowing some water, she said. "Let me use the bathroom first."
The woman nodded and watched as Ashima went to the adjoining bathroom. Once inside, Ashima spit the pill into the toilet, did her business quickly, flushed and washed her hands. As she exited the bathroom, she made it a point to stagger her steps, and shake her head. As if trying to fight off dizziness.
"Are you feeling alright Ashima?"
"I'm sure I will be fine, just feeling a little off from all of this like you said."
The woman nodded as Ashima sat heavily onto the bed and leaned onto her arm, drawing in a deep breath. Her heart was beating wildly, hoping she was giving just the right amount of effort and not overdoing it. Or under doing it.
When will we arrive on Aerulia? Is earth sending a ship or... She closed her eyes for a long moment, before sucking in a breath and opening her eyes again as if just waking up from dozing off. "Sorry, I think I dozed off. Did you find any other survivors?"
"It seems as though you need more rest. Perhaps we shouldn't overwhelm you with all of this talk now."
"No... I want to..." Ashima crumpled onto the bed, making her breath go slow, deep, and even. She made sure to relax all of the muscles in her face and she listened as the woman's footsteps left the room and the door closed behind her. She also heard the distinct sound of locking.
She made herself lay still like that for a few minutes more. Just in case. Very slowly, she began to creak her eyes open, looking through her lashes to make sure no one was watching. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw no one in the room. She sat up and took a look at her surroundings.
Just as she thought. This room was distinctly Qarthan.
The soup she ate was also Qarthan. She slapped her forehead with the heel of her palm upon the sudden realization of her mistake. She was so groggy from just coming to and she was so hungry she downed the soup without thinking. She sighed... surely she'd have a reaction by now if there was anything in the soup she couldn't handle. Relief flooded through her.
The couple times she had woken up she was too out of it to think about it but this time she was lucid enough to know they weren't on a moving ship. She could just feel it in her bones. And now that she was coming to her senses even more, everything became more obvious. A spaceship wouldn't have such heavy wood wall trim and furniture.
Anxiety spiked through her, with a little bit of relief. They had never left. But why was she being drugged? Why was the Aerulian woman here and keeping up pretenses? It couldn't be for anything good.
Not sure what she could do from this small space with no windows, all she could do was keep her ears open and listen for any conversations that might be close enough for her to hear.
As she waited in the silence, she took in more details of the room. It was very basic, somewhat comparable to the room she had stayed in when she first arrived in the prison ward. The bathroom had definitely been the bare minimum, looked like it had been thrown together in haste. It was barely more than what she had in the tent at camp. She suspected they set this up just for her. And they didn't have a lot of time to do so.
She wracked her brain for possible explanations but she had no idea why they could possibly be keeping her here like this. Did the Aerulians deceive the Qarthans? Or was the king and queen in on this deception? Or the General? But why would anyone want to keep her here in such a way? She was a nobody.
She only mattered to one person. She worried and feared what that might mean if that was their motive, but she still couldn't imagine what their end game was. If they just wanted her gone, but didn't want to take her home, why not secretly kill her? Why involve the Aerulians at all? Her mind went around in circles for what seemed like hours, with no solutions.
The Aerulian woman was right about one thing, her head really did hurt. But she wasn't about to take any medicine that woman gave her. She laid on the bed and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths, as she rubbed pressure points on her forehead.
She sent a mental word of thanks that she had been laying on the bed when she heard the door unlocking. She quickly rolled over onto her side to face the wall, away from the door. Afraid she would accidentally make facial expressions to give away her lucidness.
"See, she's out."
"Make sure she stays that way. Did she give you a hard time about taking the medicine again?"
"No, it seems she thinks that she just dozed off for a few hours."
The man's voice echoed throughout the room as he chuckled. "That's good. But that may not work the next time, so be alert. We just need to keep this up for a few more days and everything we've worked for will pay off."
"You better be right. We're taking a big risk."
"I am. We'll have a load of the minerals to take home now and our contact will be higher in rank to allow us continued shipments from now on."
"You're putting too much trust in this Qarthan. How can we trust his promises?"
"Because we have no choice." The Aerulian man said angrily. "We make this work to get the minerals we need or we'll be grounded from space, for good. This planet is our only option and this Qarthan is our only chance. Can you imagine what it will do to our people if we fail and we can no longer travel through space?"
"Fine. Just keep an eye on him."
"Of course I am, I'm no fool."
Ashima was trying her best to keep her breathing calm and her body from tensing up, but she couldn't do anything about her beating heart. It was pounding so loudly in her ears, she worried they would be able to hear it as well. Thankfully, they didn't seem to be paying much attention to her anymore.
As they left the room, locking her inside again, she couldn't keep her mind from reeling. Did the information she heard bring light to the situation at all? In some ways it did, but it didn't seem to matter. She had no idea what their actual plans were. Now all she knew was there was a male Qarthan who was a traitor, and the Aerulians needed some kind of minerals to continue their space exploration. And there was nothing she could do about anything from inside this room.