Nanny For The Alien General by Athena Storm
Serafina
“We’re gonna to miss you,” a fisherman mutters to me as I pass by him on my way to the lake, my large pack on my back.
“I’ll miss you, too. But I’m sure I’ll be back soon,” I say. I wonder if it’s true.
Before I can ponder more, I’m at the edge of the frozen lake. Emex and Belanna are sliding around on the ice, laughing and talking about heading home. As I approach the ice, Keilon kneels and says he needs to check my shoes.
Once I’d agreed to join them, Keilon had decided to delay a day so that he could ‘upgrade’ my shoes. He added some spikes to them so that I’d be able to walk easier on the frozen lake.
As he inspects the shoes, now, I stare past him over the blue-white ice that stretches as far as I can see.
What the hell am I doing…? I wonder. It’s hard for me to believe I’m going along with his crazy suggestion that I return to Cytheira. But I’m incredibly curious to see it. And if I can help the humans of the Lakes Kingdom, then I have to take advantage of the opportunity.
And… I will get to be around Keilon more.
“All right,” he says, standing up, “looks good.” He puts his hands on the shoulders of my thick coat and looks down into my eyes. “Ready?”
I meet his gaze. This is a bad idea, I’m thinking. Hoping to somehow be involved with a Kiphian king? Are you out of your mind, Sera? I try to hide these thoughts from him, though, and manage to nod, tight-lipped, hoping my expression evokes a mix of excitement and nonchalance. Keilon studies me a moment, then turns and calls out to the kids.
The ice journey begins.
We start off with gusto, Keilon encouraging the kids to lead us in some songs. They’re silly, nonsense songs. The sorts of songs young kids learn in camps. They’re all unfamiliar to me, but given their repetitive natures, I manage to end up joining the second chorus.
After an hour or so, though, the kids soon tire of singing. I try to keep them from becoming bored and asking if we’re there yet (though I am definitely curious as to how long a trip this will be) by playing some more games.
My first attempt is a game called ‘The Thing I See’, which I’ve sometimes used to distract young patients when I have to do something that might scare or hurt them. However, there’s not much to see the further out on the ice we get. By the time we’ve all been forced to say, “I see a thing that’s white and blue” and inevitably everyone else has answered, “ice”, I realize the game’s a dud.
I try to interest them in a few more, but Emex gets tired and Belanna gets cold. To my surprise, Keilon agrees to let Emex ride on his shoulders, and he hugs Belanna close to him to stay warm.
Just before mid-day, I begin to have trouble seeing. The sunlight is bouncing horrifically off the ice around me, hurting my eyes. I have to walk with a hand before my eyes to shield them. I ask Keilon to slow down a little, because it’s hard for me to keep up the pace when I’m half-blind. I notice he seems unfazed by the glare.
“How can you see through this?” I ask.
Keilon stops walking for a moment. He stands between me and the sunlight, his large shadow falling across me, giving my eyes momentary relief.
“Watch,” he says, pointing to his eyes. I look at them and they appear normal. That is, they’re the handsome, grey eyes I’ve come to look forward to seeing every day. Then Keilon glances away from me, toward the glare of the ice. Suddenly, a thin membrane slides down over his eyes. I might not have even noticed it were it not for his eyes darkening, slightly.
“Polarized vision,” he says, looking back down at me, the membrane disappearing again. “It’s a Lakes Kiphian adaptation.”
“Wow. Handy.” I guess I should be unnerved by the sight of that added membrane, but for some reason I’m not. Maybe if it were any other Kiphian besides Keilon, I would be. The fact that it is a part of him, though, makes it fine by me.
“I’ll guide you,” he says. He takes my hand and puts it on his waist. Were my face not already flush from the cold, I’m sure I’d blush. Then he starts walking and I follow. Rather than staring into the glare, I find myself watching his butt as we walk. It’s a much better view than the endless ice, that’s for sure.
I’ve lost track of the time and am desperate for a fire when Keilon suddenly stops walking. He sets Emex down and I take my hand from his waist. The sun has lowered, making the glare much less.
“What the…” Keilon is muttering.
He’s looking around, as though he was expecting something to be here. I have no idea where we are. It seems we’ve come to an edge of the lake, a shorefront some distance from Tilleli. There’s a thin, bare tree nearby, but that’s the only distinguishing landmark.
“What is it, Poppa?” Belanna asks. She’s gripping her hands together and blowing on them. I take them in mine and try to warm them up as Keilon continues looking around.
“Keilon?” I ask, trying to cut through his distraction. “What’s going on?”
“I had parked my nehjik here,” he insists.
“Your…”
“Nehjik.” he says impatiently, “My nehjik.” He stops when he sees my continued confusion. “A land vehicle. Designed for ice and snow, especially. I’d left if here. It should be here. It…”
He comes up short. I watch him mull something over. He glances in the direction we’ve been traveling, Northeast toward Cytheria.
Then he looks due Westward, his face broody.
“We’re changing course,” he announces with a quiet growl.
He doesn’t wait for any sort of affirmation or understanding from the three of us. I am completely bewildered, but Keilon seems intent on this new plan.
Get used to it, I think, because this is how royalty are. You’re just along for the ride.
Hopefully he’ll deign to tell me what this is all about. In the meantime, all I can do is follow him.
