Tau woke up with the sun shining in her eyes, which of course, seemed odd. Because she was almost certain that she had died, and she was pretty sure that death was supposed to be dreary and depressing, not sunny and bright. Well obviously she was in heaven, she concluded optimistically. She remarked on her passed deeds and decided that heaven must have a relatively low bar of entry if she got in. Regardless of her status in the afterlife, she didn't want to wake up, so she turned over and faced the other direction. She then heard the sound of a door opening. Since she was in heaven, she figured that she was basically entitled to whatever she wanted, including good sleep. Her mind was rustled further awake by the sound of a tray hitting the wooden surface of a table next to her. Clearly, this was God, who was being a little too loud for her liking.
"Hey god, can you like, fuck off and let me sleep?" She murmured, uncaring in her dismissive attitude.
Then she heard the high pitched voice of a little boy, "Holy Crap dad! She's alive! and She uses curse words!"
Tau was confused, since when did God sound like a pre-pubescent 8-year-old? She considered if she was simply being too judgmental, maybe God just felt like relieving his childhood. Then she considered what else the boy had said, dad. God didn't have a father! That's not even possible.
She quickly opened her eyes, and lifted her head from the pillow. She assessed her surroundings. A small room, painted a tan ivory color, with one window, one door, a closet, and a nightstand with a tray of food lying on it. She heard footsteps as a man approached the door. Tau instinctively reached for her pistol, nothing. Her gun was nowhere to be found; in fact she wasn't even in her uniform.
A man walked through the door, he appeared in his thirties. He had purple eyes, and his hair was a long and silvery white, with the tips of the hair being dyed blue. She checked his ears, and saw that they weren't pointed at all. So not an elf, she concluded. He didn't seem unusually short, not a dwarf. His skin wasn't green, not an alzcan or an orc. He wasn't tiny and floating, not a fairy. He had feet instead of a fishtail, not a merfolk. So, that meant that he was human!
Tau couldn't believe her luck, they'd rescued her! Somehow some way, the Zytrians managed to pull her from the wreckage of her plane, fly her back to Zytria and save her life! So that would mean that she was in a hospital, and this man must have been her doctor.
She decided to greet the man, and groggily introduced herself, "Hello, I'm Air Corporal Tau Adana, how long have I been out?"
"About a day," the man responded, "My name's Brandon Wentford."
Tau smirked, "That's some crazy hair you've got."
"It's actually pretty common around these parts," he leaned against the wall of the entryway, "my son said you cursed at him."
"A simple case of mistaken identity, I'm afraid. Besides, why's your son at your work anyway? Is today bring your kid to work day or something?"
Brandon looked perplexed, "Work? This is my house."
Tau was equally confused, "What the hell am I doing in your house?"
"I'd appreciate it if you refrained from curse words, my kid likes to repeat what he hears, and I don't want him going around calling his instructors shitheads or something."
"Your words not mine... Still though, why am I in your house? I'm a member of the Zytrian military, shouldn't I be in a naval hospital?"
His expression changed, "Ummmm... I'm pretty sure you don't want to be in a hospital around here."
Tau's brain fog had finally cleared up enough for her to think critically on her situation. It was virtually impossible that anyone would have come to rescue her, and even less likely that they'd keep her in someone's house. She stared at the man and realized, she was a prisoner of war. She knew what the Atherians did to prisoners, how they burned them alive then fed the freshly roasted corpses to their dragons. She looked around the room desperately searching for something she could use as a weapon.
"My son saw your plane crash, I found you alive so I healed you."
She gave up on the idea of using force to escape, if she was going to get out of here she was going to have to finesse her way out. "So, I'm your prisoner."
"You're not my prisoner, you're my guest and you're free to leave to at any time."
She was surprised to hear that. She knew that she should just stop talking, get up and leave, but that would be too easy. This man was clearly some kind of Atherian operative. She first investigated the most unlikely part of her current situation. Why would a Human be living in Atheria? She spoke the answer out loud, "You're a traitor."
He scoffed, "You see a human in Atheria and he's automatically a traitor?"
"Zytria is the one true Kingdom of Mankind. All humans live under the Queen's dominion and mercy. To resist her will and authority by serving an enemy nation makes you a traitor."
"Ahhh, yes. All humans live under the Queen's mercy? Is that what they say? Well I'll admit, it was a surprise to see a woman piloting a plane, you know, considering Zytria's famed sexism. Oh and tell me the complexion of all your other -pilot buddies out flying? All white, I'm guessing. Also, you said fuck to God, didn't you? Thank goodness you didn't say fuck the Gods, considering that Yorinism is the official state religion of Zytria. Well, we also can't forget about all the human tribesman living beyond the wall of one-thousand guns, I'd hardly say they get a fair share of the Queen's mercy. So I guess by "All Humans" you really mean, all male white humans who worship the right god and happen to be south of the Wall. Would that be correct?"
Tau glared at him, "You seem to fit all those classifications, so what's your excuse?"
The man ignored her comment and turned around to face the open door, "Breakfast is ready. We brought you your food, but I'm sure my wife would love it if you joined us."
Tau looked over at the tray of food next to her bed. Eating alone was unnecessarily depressing, so she groggily swung her legs out of bed and got up. She looked down to see that she was wearing a pair of striped pajamas and a blue long sleeved shirt. She grabbed the tray of food and stepped out the door, before her was a hallway painted sandy white, with no pictures up decorating the walls. She walked forward until she came to the dining room, sitting there was Brandon and his son.
Tau stopped and studied the small child. He seemed about eight, and he looked mostly normal, except, his ears. They looked slightly pointed, and his skin, it was a washed out shade of gold, and despite his facial features making him seem like an eight-year-old, he seemed a bit tall for his age. Brandon must have seen Tau standing there, because he turned to her. "My Wife's in the kitchen. You can take a seat."
Tau sat down at the table, setting her tray of food in front of her. The food was strange, she could make out soup but everything else was unrecognizable. Blue lettuce, green eggs, some weird purple goo that looked like it belonged in a chemical waste pond. She looked up to see Brandon's son glaring at her, his greenish blue eyes staring deep into her soul. The silence was awkward, but it didn't last long.
"Fuck you!" The little boy shouted.
"What the hell, Xaren?" Brandon looked enraged, "Why would you say that to our guest!"
Xaren that was a funny name for a human, but she guessed she was in Atheria, so she shouldn't have been to surprised. Xaren turned to face his father, "She said it to me first! I'm just returning the favor!"
Tau laughed. Regardless for her feelings of fear at the given situation, the boy was quite funny. "I respect a man who hits back, but that goes for me as well. I simply cannot let an insult like this go unpunished." Tau glanced at Brandon, who looked worried. She leaned across the table closer to Xaren [insert good insults here]
Eventually it became to funny for her to even keep in for herself, and Tau burst into laughter, and the little boy did the same. Tau made the mistake of trying to drink while she laughed, and as a result water started to shoot out of her nose, which only made them both laugh even harder.
Brandon interrupted, "By the great spirit, Xaren where did you learn those words! Has Rex been teaching you to speak like that!"
"Nope, I learned them at school," He replied.
Tau smirked, "I'm glad to see that Atherian education really focuses on the things that count in life."
"And you!" Brandon turned to face Tau, "I invited you into my home! I saved your life! and this is how you repay me, by defiling the sanctity of this home with your vulgarity!"
Tau leaned over towards Xaren, holding her hand next to her mouth as if to block Brandon from hearing, "Your dad's a serious piece of work."
Xaren snickered, "Yeah, he's a real yonturo, if you know what I mean."
Tau didn't know what he meant, "What do you mean?"
"It means he's a shit-shoveler. It's elven, a lot of the humor gets lost in translation."
Tau was perplexed, "They make you learn Elven at school?"
The little boy nodded, "Yeah, but I mostly learned it from my mom."
As if on cue, a tall elven woman walked around the wall dividing the kitchen and the dining room. Her skin was almost as golden as her hair, her eyes were a bright green, and her ears were sharp and pointed. She walked over and sat down a bowl of what seemed to be some sort of steamed vegetable before she took her seat across from Brandon. Tau's eyes bounced from Brandon, to the Elf, to Xaren, back to Brandon, back to the elf, back to Xaren. Finally it clicked, Xaren was a hybrid, half elf, half human. The thought of it almost made Tau vomit in her mouth.
Brandon interrupted her train of thought, "Oh please tell me you didn't hear any of that."
"I heard one-hundred percent of it," The tall elf remarked, "and Xaren, you have a lot to be ashamed of."
"Sorry mom..." the boy replied.
Tau was still dumbfounded, her jaw near the floor, "So... You, and You... You guys, you're a..."
"Married?" the Elven woman responded, "Yeah."
Tau pointed to the Xaren, "And he's your..."
Brandon nodded, "Son."
Tau gagged. Back in Zytria a Hybrid like Xaren would have been gassed alive. But even seeing one here in Atheria disgusted Tau. Humans and elves were not supposed to mix, it was just wrong. The elven woman must have noticed Tau's distress, "Culture shock or something?"
Tau nodded, still holding back vomit. She managed to suppress overwhelming feeling of disgust before speaking again, "Yeah you could say that. It's just, back in Zytria. I mean... It's just weird, that's all." Tau looked over to see the hybrid bending his head in shame.
Brandon glared at Tau, "Really? That's really how you feel? It's just weird? Nothing else you're thinking? Just weird?"
The Elven woman turned to face Brandon, "Don't antagonize the poor girl."
"Let me ask you, Tau Adana, if you'd seen my son in Zytria what would you have done? Would you have reported him?" Tau put her head down.
"Brandon!" The elven woman shouted.
"Or would you have pulled out your gun and executed the abomination yourself!? That's what you'd do right? Cleansing the world of the unclean!"
"I swear to the Gods Brandon! This woman is our guest!"
Tau frowned, feeling under attack. She lifted her head up and responded tactfully, "If I'd seen your son in Zytria, I would have reported him to the proper officials. He would have faced a tribunal. Because he saved my life, and I can attest to his kindness and character, I would have testified at that Tribunal and pleaded for mercy."
Brandon shouted back, "Mercy? Who's fucking Mercy? The Mercy of a people who would have had me wiped off the map? Do you think that I got a fucking Tribunal? You think they ever offered me any mercy!"
Tau noticed that Brandon's hands had blue flames lapping off them. He was a magic user. Tau's empathy and respect for the man evaporated as she responded firmly, "If you want me to pity you, I won't. My stepfather was like you, and when they they took him away he didn't get an ounce of my sympathy. Neither will you."
"I should have left you to die." he said bluntly.
Tau spoke slowly, her demeanor changing to emotionless calm, "Did you know that I used to fly patrols over in Alzca? It was my first military assignment. Officially we were there to make sure the Alzcans were respecting our airspace, but unofficially it was because they had a problem with runaways at the magical rehabilitation camp. I guess Rehabilitation is a pretty funny synonym for extermination, isn't it? I'd say I caught about a dozen runaways in the two months that I was there. I always told my commander that it would be better for all of us if I could just gun down the sorcerous bastards with my twin machineguns, but he told me I was only to report their location and circle until they were retrieved." Tau's face betrayed no emotion, neither pride nor regret were present, "But one day, one of the runaways started shooting back me. Not with magic of course, but she'd stolen a handgun from a guard. I told the Air Tower that I was taking fire, and they authorized me to shoot back. When I stared down the cross-hairs at the figure of a young girl, sprinting away from me in that grassy field, I honestly contemplated whether or not it was worth it to pull the trigger, whether this girl really deserved to die. But knowing what I know now, seeing you here, in Atheria. Knowing that if that Magic user had slipped away, she would probably be fighting for the same country that burned my people alive, well... Let's just say that filling that Magical Abomination with bullets is probably among the best decisions I've ever made."
Brandon stood up. He spoke slowly; there was a force behind his words, "get the fuck out of my house."
Xaren just sat in silence with his head down, but his mother spoke up. "Brandon-"
Brandon interrupted, "I will not have her hatred and bigotry present in this home." he pointed to the door, "now leave."
Tau got up and muttered under breath "Magi scum." She saw a backpack sitting next to the door. She wondered why they would pack a bag for her? What kind of stuff would they even have included? She figured it was probably just the emergency supplies attached to her ejection seat. She got up from the table, walked over to the door, picked up her bag and left out the door. The first thing she noticed was the bright sun, her eyes had to adjust to all the light. She looked around the neighborhood. It was strange. The houses were all one level cottages with simple wooden frames and a basic front porch. The one thing that made the houses distinct were the people, the people were all out and about taking in the sun. Dwarves on that porch, elves on that one, Alzcans over there, Orcs that way. It was like an artist just said "fuck it" and mixed all the colors together on the pallet. It was nothing like Zytria.
Tau knew that she probably stood out, a lone girl in pajamas with a backpack. But she didn't care; she just wanted to find a way home. As she stepped across the dull cement sidewalk leading away from the house, she heard the door swing open behind her.
"Wait!" Tau recognized it as the voice of the Elven woman, "I have something that belongs to you." Tau turned around to see that the woman was holding a small square polaroid in her hand. Tau started walking back towards the woman as she sat down on the steps leading up to the porch. The woman didn't hand Tau the photo when she finally reached the steps. "You should sit," Tau wanted to tell the woman to fuck off and snatch the photo from her hand, but she decided to be polite instead. She sat down next to the elf and sighed. The woman handed her the polaroid which she quickly snatched it into her fingers, holding it desperately, like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood. She gazed at Michael's smile and lost herself in it. She saw herself holding his hand in the photo and thought, you damn fool, you should never have let go. The woman gazed down on the photo, "Is he your husband?" she asked.
"I wish," Tau said, realizing too late that she was thinking out loud.
The woman smiled, "You seem like the kind of girl that gets things done. I'm sure that when you get back home you'll find a way to make that man marry you."
"Yeah, that's the hope." Tau frowned, and looked over toward the woman. She seemed nice, Tau felt the need to defend herself, "Your husband, he doesn't know me. He doesn't understand the reasons I have for what I did." she tried to put it into words without saying it outloud, "I did everything I did to protect the people I love. I understand if you think that makes me a monster but..." She couldn't help but feel some amount of guilt well up in her chest. She knew, that she had done the right things, deep down. But seeing these people who she hated, who were so kind to her, made that hard to believe.
Apparently the Elven woman noticed her distress because she began telling a story, "Did you know that I'm royalty? I was... I am, the daughter of Viceroy Edemitriuos of Elvos. I grew up in a castle and everything. It was all pretty fun." The woman clasped her hands in front of her and stared across the street, as if watching the story unfold as she described it, "I used to live in Elvos. That's where I met Brandon, he was a refugee running from the Genocide in Zytria. He got a job at court as a steward and we fell in love. My dad wouldn't let me marry him, but he was fine with us being us as long as we were discreet. I've always hated politics, but back then it sort of came with the territory of being a princess. My father was trying to pass a law that would have restricted access to magic users fleeing across the border. The law stated that any magical refugees spotted at the border would be detained and returned to the Zytrians. Because I was technically my father's heir, I was on the council. I was always a rubber stamp though, how does father vote, that's how I'll vote, like I said, I never really cared for politics. But this time, this time the council was split, four to four, and I was the deciding vote. Arguments were made on both sides, and I was really considering voting it down. But then my father confronted me, he said that if I voted yes than Brandon would be protected, but if I voted no he would personally send the love of my life back across the border to be gassed alive. Obviously, I voted yes, because who cares if other people die as long as the one person I really care about gets to live?
"My father, maybe out of spite, maybe because he thought I was right for the job, made me the commissioner for Border protection. Those were the worst days of my life. Every day I would go to the border and personally inspect holding cells for thousands of refugees desperately trying to escape certain oblivion. The worst part was the sound, that horrible chorus of men and women begging for mercy, begging for the lives of their children. My favorite thing in the day was coming home and lying in bed with Brandon, because at night it was always utterly silent, the horrifying chorus was gone, it was just me and him. There was no proof of the terrible thing that I'd done, nothing there to make me feel like the monster I was.
"But after a while the Holding cells began to shrink, fewer and fewer people were trying to cross the border. I realized why this was; it was because all the people who had been trying to cross were already dead. There were simply fewer people left to run for their lives. Then one day, I came to the holding cells, and there wasn't a single refugee there. Not one. The silence, that was the worst part. No more begging, no more crying children, just deafening silence. That night I went home, I lied next to the man I loved, and I learned the most painful lesson of my entire life. You can't run from silence, it follows you wherever you go.
That silence, the deafening sound of nothing. The airless screams of the people who didn't survive, the cold desperate pleas that I would never hear because the people begging had long since learned that no such mercy existed. I lied in that bed for hours, begging for the silence to end. I lied there and begged the Gods to make the silence end, I prayed, I wished for the screams and crying and pleas for mercy to return. I desperately missed the Chorus of suffering that once permeated my nightmares. In spite of my prayers, the Gods gave me nothing but silence.
So, I just started screaming. As loud as I could, I screamed. Brandon got out of bed like there was a murder being committed, but once he realized it was just me, he tried to calm me down. But I couldn't stop, I couldn't let the silence back in. I screamed until the guards rushed into the room, I screamed until my father personally ordered me to shut up, I screamed until my vocal cords tore and I couldn't scream anymore. I wanted to take it all back, I wanted to walk into my father's office and run a sword through his fucking heart. I wanted to march an army down to those godsdamn holding cells and I wanted to set those people free. But it was too late, there was no one left to save. I had nothing but the silence to remind me of my failure."
"My Father thought I was insane, and he didn't want me embarrassing the family name anymore, so he let me run off to Atheria with Brandon so I could start a family." She took a deep painful breath "but it doesn't matter how far I run, I'll hear that silence until the day I die." She sighed, "Do you want to know the truth? Yes, I think you're probably a monster, and you know what? So am I. But that doesn't matter, because to myself I might be a monster, but to the man I love, to the son I care for? I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I'm the one who cooks breakfast, I'm the one who holds them when they cry, I'm someone they can lean on, I'm an angel, A guardian, A hero, an unstoppable force. Because in those moments where I can't love myself, I have people who can do it in my place. That's why monsters like us fight so hard." She pointed to the Polaroid that Tau held in her hand, "The boy in the photo looks pretty damn happy. I doubt you're a monster to him."
Tau smiled, moving her thumb over the picture, "No. I'm not a monster to him."
The elf got up from the stairs, "You should stay one more night. If you've never seen an Atherian sunset before, it's an unforgettable experience."
Tau considered her offer. The invasion was supposed to be coming tomorrow, so if she was going to leave now she would have to wait a day out in the wilderness before even having a chance at rescue. So she figured she was just better of waiting out the rest of the day there, "Yeah I guess I can stay one more night."