The first time I saw her, her beautiful body captured my attention more than her face. The fact that her back was turned prevented me from seeing what was on her face: letters. Lots of them, symbols of all kinds that I couldn’t read. They were tattooed on her skin, reddish brown over her bronze skin, from her lower lip to her neck and then getting lost in the cavern of her cleavage.
Almost lost in thought, I extended my hand to touch them, but Anaissa stopped me with a soft movement.
“It’s not like they are braille, you know?”
“Sorry. It’s just…”
“Don’t apologize, geez. What kind of upbringing did you have where you can’t stop apologizing for the dumbest reasons?”
“Well, if you see my paintings, you can guess. But after I came to Earth, the orphanage worked hard to teach me to ask forgiveness every time I invade other people’s space” the now more expressive Anaissa asked me with her eyes. “I’m not an earthling, if that’s what you’re asking”.
“First person I’ve met on this planet is an alien, what can I say?” Anaissa laughed, a bright smile on her face. “You seem human enough for me, except in the eyes”.
“I’m a bit stronger than the average Earth human, but, yeah. Thaeb humans are close relatives to Earth humans. We’re more physically fit, but there’s not much of a difference. Even my tribal paintings aren’t so distinct from those of Earth’s own tribes”.
“First time I saw you, I thought you were one of my kin, in fact” Anaissa said, laughing. “You have the same eyes as an old friend of mine. Having eccentric looks is something in our blood” but she didn’t say it in a fun way. How familiar… “But, if you paint yourself, it must be for a good reason”.
“I dislike my people’s ways, but I’ll never forget where I come from” I said as I rolled up my sleeves and showed my red tattoos. “My family names are on my right arm; my tribe sigil on my left and… “I rolled up my pants, showing her one last tattoo on my left leg, “the piece that defined my life and gave me my last name”.
Anaissa looked closely at this last one: a figure walking away from what seemed to be huts.
“Renate, the Traveler?” she guessed.
“Renate, the Coward” I snorted back. “I went my own way, rather than accept their way of doing things. I stowed away on a cargo ship that stopped near my tribe, and I ended up here. When the people here caught me gathering food from a dumpster in the city, they sent me to the orphanage. And that’s that”.
“And then, you joined the Rebel Kids club” she raised her cup in cheer and drank it. “Somehow, your story reminds me of my own. That’s part of the reason why I’m here”.
“And that is…?”
“I don’t know if this is just a vacation or something permanent and, for the moment, I don’t know which of the two I prefer. They sent me here to find balance, whatever that means. Only thing I’ve found so far are the rules of this world, some history, a lot of trees and, of course, a nice girl I could hug once I know her better” she clearly enjoyed my blushing. “You only have to talk a bit more for that to happen. Until then, I’ll try to find something fun to do. Sadly for me, from what I’ve gathered, this Earth solved its wars long ago, so, I don’t have much to do around here. This place is nothing like my warmongering Earth, where, with a simple trip, I could be as violent as I wanted”.
“Are you a soldier?” she didn’t look like it at all.
“I am a fighter, a proud one at that. I wanted to be a warrior, lots of times but, in the end, I was ordered around to do all kinds of chores that had nothing to do with fighting” as I was spiteful about my upbringing, now it was her turn. “Don’t misunderstand me: I like to feel useful, but among my battle-inclined kin, where everyone was constantly getting into danger, I was reduced to medic duty”.
“Are you a medic!?” she was the most charming and sexy lady I’ve ever met, able to create things from thin air, but now, her medic skills were what caught all my attention.
“…you could say that” she was taken aback by my sudden exclamation. “Why…?”
“I was trying to find a master of medicine for years!” I ignored the tea on my way to her, spilling it all over the tray, carpets, and pants. “I can’t apply for college or anything but I know I could be a very good medic!” I grabbed her hands with glee as she watched me with a mix of sympathy and panic. “Please! Can you teach me!?” and then, I pushed her to the floor with all my might and held her down.
She smiled, not with her usual overconfidence, but one that reflected some kind of disbelief. But, one way or another, she was smiling. Smiling awkwardly at first, but, ever so slightly, a real smile. She liked what I was doing. She liked a part of me and was showing me that by letting me pin her down.
“Ok, first things first. Now I understand your comment about not respecting other people’s space” she pointed out sarcastically. “Second…” in a lightning fast move, I was shoved to the ground and now, she was the one pushing me against the floor, “I’m the one who jumps over other people. Third, my medicine is something that you probably won’t be able to learn, but I’m more than willing to try to teach you to the extent of my knowledge. And, finally” she fixed her eyes on mine, “I’ll do it because I love passion and I feel tons of it in you” she moved her face closer to mine…
…and she kissed my forehead.
“Oh, how I wish to kiss you in so many other places” she continued, hand trembling in a mix of anticipation and restraint, being as serious as she was flirty. “But that’s something you’ll have to earn” and she let me go. “I haven’t found someone as passionate as you in a long time” she said as she fixed her messed up hair. “How long have you been trying to find a master?”
“I learned some things about medicine back where I was born, but I never had a proper teacher. They told me, over and over, that I was too young for that”.
“That didn’t prevent you from learning a thing or two about herbs”.
“Nah, that I’ve mostly learned on my own. I got some hints about mixtures at Thaeb, read about traditional methods on Earth, learned about the local herbs and mushrooms, but nothing dangerous. I’d helped to cure some minor maladies among the kids of the orphanage, but, when I tried to get a master the way my people do, I found lots of things I didn’t expect…”
“Bureaucracy” she guessed, and I nodded in frustration.
“I can read and I have certain mastery of math. I learned history, science, and literature of Earth, but what they ask from me is irrational. So many things that have so little to do with healing people and they just say, you should have started studying for this at twelve”.
“Well, you won’t find a master in this place, not with your people’s ways. But I’ve already offered myself, so let’s make this official tonight. Before that, though, you need to head back home”.
“Ok. I have experience in escaping the orphanage undetected. When I should come here?”
“No: I’ll go to you” what? “You’ve accepted my quirks, so accept this one too. I’m not like the masters of your people, not a college professor and, you bet, not a normal person. Go back home and, don’t argue with me on this, go to sleep. After that, we’ll talk. Understood?”
She accompanied me, dumbfounded, to the surface, just like the previous day and left me to go the same way. I returned to the orphanage as the sun was setting, helped the cook a bit with the dinner, put the kids to sleep, cleaned the upper level and then, I went to my own room, just like any other day.
On my bed, I looked out my little window, expecting Anaissa to appear on the other side but, no matter how long I waited, no one showed up.
“What a waste of time” I thought. “In the first place, she doesn’t even know where I live!”
So I got into bed, waiting for a fast sleep so I could ask her what the deal of all of this was the next day and…
“Heya, girl” I found myself again inside the deepest room of her strange subterranean spire, Anaissa kneeling at my side, me lying on the floor.
One moment, I was in my bed, covered with my always welcome bedsheets, while I rested from the half-conventional, half-magical day; the next, I was several kilometers over, in an impossible building, inside a huge underground domed space whose walls were covered, from floor to ceiling, in all kinds of lights, lines, geometric shapes, and lots and lots of strange looking words I couldn’t read.
“What…?” I could only mutter half a word before Anaissa cut me off.
“You’re dreaming right now” she pointed out, as if this was as common as breathing. “Remember: I’m not like you. This is my normal” she caressed my forehead warmly. “There’s a lot to be discussed but, if I start with something, it must be the following” she leaned over me and, with the most serious look in her eyes, she announced: “You’ll never succeed”.
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