Today was supposed to be a perfect Tuesday. I had no classes. I had no commissioned work to finish. I had nothing to do at all. Such days rarely came by.
I had just planned a whole day of fun, from going to my favorite restaurant to visiting the eclectic antique district.
I started imagining all those treasures I didn’t yet know existed.
Until Carlos decided otherwise.
Mum told him that she had left a Dutch oven beef stew before she left for work. Carlos had one job. Just one simple job: to turn off the oven at 2 pm
He totally forgot and rushed out at noon for an urgent scoop.
It was 1:30 pm when he remembered what he'd done. He called me wailing that our mother was going to kill him.
I agreed.
He had it coming.
He guilt-tripped me into giving up on my perfectly planned free day to go back home, turn off the oven, and be the heroine who saved the beef stew from a fate worse than not ending in Carlos' stomach.
I accepted my imminent fate. Fleur’s studio wasn’t that far away from my house. I took an Uber.
I reached the house twenty minutes too late. I ran to the kitchen.
Thank God this won’t be my dinner for tonight.
“Hera,” I turned my head to the living room. My father sat there while reading a book.
“Dad?”
“I have turned off the oven; come and sit down.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Did you run here?” I didn’t realize I was breathing rapidly.
“Not really.”
He returned to reading his book.
“Dad, you are early today.”
“When your mother told me she left Carlos with a turned-on oven, I thought I’d better get home early.”
“Oh.”
Well, given my brother's history, these errands just became a normal part of our lives.
“How is work?”
“Great,” I replied. “I got my first Yin-Ra student.”
He looked up from the book.
“You are lucky then.” He thought for a while. “Even though they didn’t need to attend our universities, they did. But none was interested in a philosophy major.”
My father, who was a philosophy professor, was disappointed.
“Maybe because their philosophies and beliefs are different.” I thought. “Do you know how strong they are?”
“That is not the point, Hera; even if they believe in something else, they still share our morals.”
When I looked at it from that angle, it made sense. After all, during their twenty years on Earth, they rarely crossed the line. Even if they did, it was handled very efficiently.
Even those anti-hybrid groups couldn’t change the public’s opinion against the Yin-Ra.
“A civilization that is so rigorously disciplined is not a coincidence. Their leader is either a very benevolent man or a terrifying one.” Dad was amused by a man he had never met.
“Their leader?”
My thoughts started to drift to the two elders doing pottery and painting at our studio. Who might their leader be?
Suddenly the front door opened. I saw Carlos running towards the kitchen.
“Carlos.”
“Dad?”
Déjà vu much.
Carlos saw me then.
“Hera, why aren’t you answering the phone?”
I looked at my phone. The battery died out.
I shrugged and then headed to the study.
I put my phone in the charger, then headed to the library.
All sorts of books filled the shelves.
I looked at one shelf that was the most messed up but perfectly captured our family.
Ceramics history, Fundamentals of nursing, Plato and Socrates, Journalism and writing.
Books just like ceramics, even if one day humans no longer existed. Our stories were still written somewhere.
I suddenly felt suffocated.
It crossed my mind now and then. Humans who no longer spread throughout the planet. Five concentrated human territories.
This might be the era with the fewest humans in history yet the most suffocating.
One plague caused by a single microorganism, fifty years ago drove humans to a dead end until the Yin-Ra people appeared twenty years ago, offering a helping hand.
They came under the guidance of their Goddess to help us.
No more, no less.
Then the government started selling the fated mates idea.
I shook my head.
This was none of my business.
I needed air.
I headed out of the house and towards the lake in our neighborhood.
Then I saw one of the abandoned houses in our neighborhood with a moving truck parked in front of it.
I got curious.
I thought, why not check out these new neighbors?
Maybe they have just moved here from another territory.
I had just reached their fence when I stumbled.
I waited for the impact, but it never came.
One strong hand around my waist kept me from falling. The familiar sweet amber and sharp citrus scent enveloped me. I looked up.
“Zale?”
********************
Zale
I stood at the office exit waiting for the car and driver.
“Elder, are you really moving to that remote neighborhood?” Vaxar asked.
“It is not remote; there is a nearby lake and no industrial gases. It is also close to the art studio”
His eyes twitched.
For the last few days, he had tried to convince me to choose another neighbourhood, which I had explicitly refused.
Finally, Draco finished the paperwork for the house a few days ago. However, he claimed that I couldn’t move in until everything was ready.
Today the moving truck would be moving the newly bought furniture. I found no more reason to stay at Draco’s home and announced to Vaxar and Draco that I would be leaving this afternoon.
However, Vaxar couldn’t just let it go.
“Elder, a servant has already been sent to the house.”
Draco handed me the house keys.
My belongings were sent to the house.
I only carried a small box that protected my “Hera’s Mug. "
The car stopped in front of me.
I never thought I would ever entertain the idea of having a house other than my floating island back at Yin-Ra.
Maybe nothing is permanent after all.
We reached the house. The moving truck was already there, and the workers were moving things inside, and the servants were organizing everything.
It won’t take long after all; Yin-Ra people are quick.
I looked around the house. It was a two-level building with an attic and a basement. Everything was clean and renovated. The windows and doors were all newly installed. The stairs were sturdy. As the furniture filled the house, it remained uncrowded. There seemed to be places missing a thing here and there, but I didn't feel the immediate need to fill those missing places.
I stood at the second-floor window of the master room while the air hit my face.
I saw her walking towards the house. She was so curious about the new neighbor that she didn’t look ahead.
She was just about to stumble when, in a flash, I jumped from the window, reached her and steadied her.
It took her a few seconds to realize that she didn’t fall.
She suddenly looked up at me with the loveliest confused face ever.
“Zale?”
“Hera.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Moving in.”
“There?” She pointed towards the house.
I nodded.
She straightened up. I didn’t want to remove my hands from around her waist, but that would have been rude. I let her be.
I felt the loss of her warmth the moment she moved away.
“Oh, welcome to the neighborhood then.” She smiled.
I never had any doubts about moving here, but seeing her smile, it almost bordered on the sanctuary of religious belief that nothing could be more right than moving here.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“My home is nearby, and I was going for a walk.”
“Where to?”
“The lake.”
“Can I tag along?”
“What?” She was flustered. “I mean, you are moving in.”
“Don’t worry, let’s go. I wanted to check the lake.”
"You moved here because of the lake? It is beautiful."
"Maybe."
She didn't ask further and started moving. I followed her lead. We walked slowly under the fading sun. The sky had an orange hue that marked an ending and a beginning as humans liked to time their days.
I didn’t think I would meet her on the first day I moved here.
I might have wished for it but never got my hopes up.
My left hand started to hum slowly. Too calm.
We reached a clearing with a huge body of water.
She knelt in front of the water and looked at her reflection.
She took a deep breath.
“You know, Zale, we humans are trying to hustle through our extinction crisis, be it by joking or just ignoring it altogether.” She stared more at her reflection in the water. “But never in humanity's history had humans been so desperately doing art, music, and writing books just to keep our legacies.”
She finally sat down and looked up at the sky.
“Does your planet's sky look like ours?”
“Your skies are more forgiving, Hera.”
Question for today's chapter:
Do you think Zale is:
💙 Sweet
🌿 Slightly suspicious
🚩 Walking green flag with questionable life choices
Defend your answer. 😌
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