Emi let the water rise above her ankles as her feet sank into the pond.  The relief of her house’s shadow just out of her reach. 

It wasn’t the dry heat of Twin Sol that she was trying to rid herself of, no, she was used to the dual star’s heat. That was something you simply dealt with growing up on Kyberkan. What she had only started to experience recently was the strain of a large belly pulling down on her back, contorting each and every muscle.

Stretching back, she rested both hands behind her and looked up at the cloudless sky.  She had just untied her silken robe, revealing a thin, cloth gown, allowing the garment to breathe. 

She often wondered what it was like living elsewhere in the Galeon Dynasty. Somewhere preferably that didn’t neighbor Twin Sol.  It had been a dream of Akio and hers to visit Verdura Prime or Shinkai one day, but those were just that, a couple’s dream from a small, desert planet. 

Still, she knew this was where she was supposed to be, this is where her karma had kept her.

The clattering of metal on stone shook Emi out of her peaceful bliss.

“I thought I’d find you here.”  Akio called down to his wife.

His smile warmed Emi like the embrace of a woolen blanket on a cold evening.  It was the same blissful grin every time he saw his wife, the same love-struck look he had on the first time they met.  The look could ease Emi’s nerves even in the worst of sand-typhoons. 

Akio’s wide-legged trousers flowed over his ironmare, its vanguard ion-shield dropping as soon as Akio dropped the reigns.  The four-legged transporter stood at ease as Akio ventured down the cobblestone path to Emi. 

“You finished up in the fields early today?”

There was that smile again, gleaming down at Emi. The thin man pulled his straw hat off and held it up against his chest. 

“No, no, love, it’s mid-day already. But it does sound like you’ve finally allowed yourself to relax.  One doesn’t simply lose track of time unless you thoroughly try to.” 

There was a playful nature to his voice, as if he’d been relieved she had done so.  “That’s good, though, we won’t have many more moments like this, alone with just your thoughts.  You deserve it.”

He let himself slide down next to his wife, him firmly grasping hold of Emi’s waist. 

“Do you remember the first time we met? Right here next to the pond?” He asked, admiring the shallow pool of water. 

It was barren around their village, desert stretching out miles in every direction.  The thought could be smothering to some, no escape from the suffocating wasteland, yet at that moment, Emi felt as though a breath of fresh air had rushed into her lungs, the ecstasy of that first meeting coming back to her.

She looked down at her own reflection, wondering where her younger self had gone to. Then, just for the briefest of moments, there she was, twelve years younger, bewitched by the stillness of the water.

“Of course, I do.” 

Emi suddenly felt shy, as if Akio had just kissed her for the first time.  “You were lost, or at least so you claimed to be.  When I came back here the next day you had somehow lost your way again, right back to this pond. So, I insisted on helping you find your way home, but you declined, you said – “

“I said I rather much enjoy getting lost if it means getting to see you.” Akio recalled.

Emi twisted herself around to face Akio.  “And do you know what? The day after that I waited here again. All day hoping that you would get lost once more.  But you never did.  I cursed myself for waiting on you to make the first move.”

Trying to hide his dismay, Akio pulled his black hair up into a topknot.  “You never told me that.  Is that why the next time we saw each other, you asked me to have tea before I could even say hello?”

Emi remembered the day fondly.  The look of bamboozlement on Akio’s face still made her laugh.

“It’s common knowledge a woman cannot leave any urgent matters to a man.”  She wrapped her arms around her belly as Akio recounted his past-self’s missteps.  “Besides, had I waited for you I would have been an old maid by the time you gained the courage to ask, and I couldn’t do that to myself!”

“Oh, come on.” Akio protested.  “I’m not that bad.”

“I never said it was a bad thing.”

Emi’s milky-white skin flushed, her deep-set eyes widening, eyelashes flapping, asking for forgiveness. 

“Besides,” she continued. “Everyone knows out of the two Wren boys, your brother was the assertive one.”

Before Akio could object, he watched as Emi’s false sense of remorse transformed into a wry smirk and perked eyebrow.  She knew all too well how to stoke his fire.   

He couldn’t help but breathe a little more easily knowing she wasn’t truly upset over the matter, even if she took the opportunity to pour salt on his wounds.

“To be fair, he had a fifteen-year head start over me, that’s not a reasonable ask of me.”

“Life isn’t fair, dear.”

Emi let her fingers slide in between Akio’s calloused hand, their fingers intertwining.  “Still, I love you for who you are, not who you should be or could have been.  You are you for a reason.”  She tightened her grip.  “Never forget that.”

The dueling suns were now directly overheard, one peeking out from behind the other.  Akio watched as their shadows slowly shrunk to a point of nothingness. 

“Speaking of my brother.”  Akio said, not taking his eyes off the ground.  “You know the birth-right that comes with being a Wren, whether we agree with it or not we’ll have to decide soon on what we’ll do.” 

He tapped around the subject as if he were poking around in the dark with his sword. “I already received a datascribe from my brother. In his eye, there is no option, no discussion between us, it just is.”

Their shadows were now gone, as if their mortal bodies were left alone on this plane of existence.  True zenith, the hottest time of the day, the time when most people were inside their houses or hidden underground.  The momentary sense of aloneness jerked Akio’s hand out of Emi’s, but she held on tight, wringing him back to reality.

“He’s right, there is no discussion.” She said with ferocity.  “We’re not going to do it. I will not have my son’s life pre-determined by the Galeon Dynasty or some piece of tech. Let him decide what he will make of himself. The Blessed Eye is forsaken from our house.”

八

Akio paced back and forth as muffled groans echoed out from behind the door.  On the other side of it, he could hear the midwife’s feet shuffling back and forth at an even greater pace than himself. 

By this point Emi had been in labor for six hours and he cursed himself every single minute of it.  Both of them were over thirty standard-years old and knew the dangers of childbirth the older they both grew. 

He had begged the midwife to let him in the room, and at one point nearly tore the paper out of the door frame before she was able to calm his nerves. 

It was an unspoken tradition she had said, dating back to the first families of Kyberkan.  The woman needed to concentrate on the childbirth, not on her worried husband. 

“A tradition like the cursed Blessed Eye.” Akio spat out as he let the midwife close the door back up.

His hand gripped the hilt of the sword that hung from his side.  It was a nervous tick that he had developed over the years, despite the sword only being drawn for its monthly oiling. 

The sword was a Wren family tradition, bestowed upon him by his older brother, Kojiro-Kan, who had practically raised Akio.  He could remember all the early morning training he and Kojiro would do, trying to better themselves one day at a time.  They would go out before Twin Sol had risen, the air still crisp and the sky a light hue of orange.  Neither of the boys would talk, Akio would just watch and learn.

It wasn’t until Akio had seen what the sword truly did to his brother, the savagery it brought out of Kojiro-Kan, that Akio started to fear, not revere his older brother, and slowly distance himself from the blood-thirsty man.

A scream rang out from the next room over.

“That’s enough.” 

Akio made for the door, but before he could open it, a nurse beat him to it.  She looked young, no older than twenty standard-years, but this clearly wasn’t her first birthing.  She looked calm and collected, not a worry on her face, nothing like Akio felt, and she tried to do the same for Akio. 

“Lord Wren, I was just coming to get you.”  Her voice was filled with warmth.  “Congratulations, sire, come meet your son.”

A baby’s cry called out and just over the nurse’s shoulder, he watched as the midwife handed Emi a swaddled baby.

He struggled to find words, like most new parents, he couldn’t think of anything to say, he simply stood in awe.

“Would you like to come in?” The nurse quietly asked.

“Oh, yes, sorry.”

Akio shook himself out of the daze and ventured into his first day as a father. 

The room was dimly lit, lights calmly pulsating.  The sound of running water surrounded Akio as he walked inside.  It was a foreign sound to anyone on Kyberkan, the world had been without large bodies of water since before the planet joined the Dynasty.  Still, Emi found the sounds soothing, and so Akio had grown accustomed to the alien noise. 

The midwife was alone; besides the one nurse, a mess of machinery lined the walls replacing the dozens of nurses who used to accompany a midwife.  She glided past Akio, whispered something into the nurse’s ear and they both disappeared behind the sliding door.

Emi gleamed from her bed.  It could have been from the sweat, but Akio swore it was something more, perhaps her aura emanating, filling the entire room with her joy.  Either way, Akio felt that was the most beautiful he’d ever seen his wife, freed of every burden if just for a moment, just her and her son.

Her face was in awe, as if she still couldn’t believe this little creature had come out from inside her. 

Then his eyes caught his son’s, and Akio was in nirvana. He thought that he was prepared for this moment, but he wasn’t, surely no one was ever truly prepared to meet your first child.  How can one prepare yourself to welcome a new life into this world?

Akio found himself saying an old blessing his mother would say before putting him to bed.  

“I open my soul to you my dear son, two bodies and heart, forever as one.” 

He allowed the words to float out into the ether, letting them spread out across his son’s body and soul.

The baby looked up at his father, wondering what the strange man was saying and then closing his eyes, letting the blessing wash over him.  The young babe then drooped its head back down onto his mother’s chest.  A welcome rest after a busy morning.

Next, Akio turned his attention to his wife. “Are you alright, my dear?”

“Right now, I feel like I can fly right up to Twin Sol and steal all of its light.”  She grasped at her braided hair.  “But I know all too well that I will come crashing back down home tomorrow, or perhaps even later today.”

It was then that Akio realized how much work Emi had done to bring this child into the world while he was no help at all, well, perhaps he had one small contribution, but it had been all her who had done the hard work. 

All the sleepless nights, the early morning sicknesses, and that was all before labor had even begun.  Had the nurse allowed him in the room, what would he have done anyway?  He had always admired his wife’s bravery, her true fearlessness, but he was just coming to realize what it all truly meant. 

Emi continued. “I would accept all of the pain in the universe, though, if it meant that Toshiro was safe and healthy.” 

“Toshiro?”

“Yes,” She ran her fingers over the little boy’s cheek. “I thought it would be a fitting name.”

“It’s brilliant.”  Akio couldn’t help but beam.  “Young Toshiro Wren.  True hope for us all.”

There was a saying on Kyberkan that there was no time for respite under the heat of Twin Sol.  There was no better example of that as the couple’s euphoria was interrupted by a clamoring of voices down on the floor below.

“And I thought we may have peace today.” Emi cursed.  “Don’t let them in, Akio, please, for the love of Toshiro.”

The door slid open, the nurse stood clearly perturbed now.  “Sir…Lord…”

But Akio didn’t listen, he strode past the nurse, the cooing of Toshiro slowly fading away as he hurried down to the foyer. 

The midwife and the house staff scurried around, everyone one of them with an eye on Akio. 

With his hand on his sword’s hilt, Akio opened the front door.  Four white-robed men stood waiting for him; three in front of the fourth making a diamond shape with an ornately forged chest in the middle of them. The Divine Seers.

“I told my brother not to send you.”  Akio heard himself saying.  “You are not wanted here, now flee.”

The man who stood at the front of the quadruplet addressed Akio first.

“The Blessed Eye does not obey some petty warlord; the Blessed Eye simply sees.  That in itself is beyond what any state or government can dictate.  We are blessed to have been seen by the Eye.”

The other three echoed.  “We are blessed to have been seen by the Eye.”

“The Eye doesn’t see all!” Akio protested.  “All it does is spread lies.”  The thought sickened him.  “Had my vision been true I wouldn’t be here right now, I’d be alone, fearful of what my life might bring. What do you say to that?”

“The Eye sees all.”  The fourth man, the one furthest back said. 

Even from where he stood, Akio could tell that this man was older than the rest, decrepit even.  His robes were adorned with embroidered filigree where the others were plain, and his hat rose a foot higher than the rest.

“Whether or not you accept it is your own prerogative, my child, but what it sees will indeed happen.”

“You lie!” Akio barked, taking a step outside.

The three underlings huddled around the holy chest.

“Do not address His Holiness, Regent Oracle in that manner!” One clergyman ordered.

“I said leave.”

Akio drew his sword.  Its blade blazing red as if it were pulled from the belly of Twin Sol herself.

The Divine Seers’ eyes widened, truly seeing the danger they were in now. 

Before Akio could wield the blade, the four were gone, The Blessed Eye in tow.

The new father took a deep breath, not wanting to consider the ramifications of what he had just done.  He forced himself to unwind, the heat from the sword still pulsing through its sheath.

He knew that at least for now, they were free of the Eye’s gaze, even if it was just one day more.

八

The following day, Emi and Akio visited Wellspring Sanctorum.  The three-story temple was built by the first settlers of Kyberkan around a well of water they had discovered.  The springs brought the settlers a new hope of life, and from that point on parents would bring their newborns to the temple so that their children, too, may receive the same prosperity. 

With young Toshiro wrapped firmly against his mother’s chest, Emi and Akio held their hands tightly the entire visit, not knowing how far the Oracle’s Doctrine would go. 

Whether it was the luck of the temple or sheer happenstance, their visit was a pleasant one, quiet and intimate, the way it should be for any set of new parents. 

They went before dawn and stayed through the day hidden underneath the temple’s wide-reaching roof.  They drank from the Well of Salvation, meditated, and of course, thanked the Sanctorum for its safety. 

No one was around that day, most of the nearby village busy working in the fields or water-mining in the caverns. That left the Wrens’ with only the mammoth mountain, Kaze-no-Yama as company.  Its intimidating peak there to guide them home, its gentle breeze constantly pushing them onward.

Half-awake and back home, Emi and Akio toiled with their ceremonial kimonos while Toshiro slept in his cradle. 

“That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?” Emi whispered as she carefully pulled her hair out of its bun.

“No, it wasn’t.” Akio paused. “Perhaps I scared them away.” He nervously chuckled to himself.  “I mean, I even frightened myself the way I acted yesterday.”

Emi shook her head, her hair falling to her shoulders.  “You were just protecting your family. But I…”  Her eyes dropped down.  Her obi was already loosened, and her kimono hung open.  “I don’t know if their fear will last long, especially once your brother hears of it.  I just don’t know where we can go from here.”

“We can flee.  For the country or the caverns.  Maybe even some no-name village in the middle of the desert.  Change our names too.  Heck, maybe we even sneak off the planet, go to Shinkai like you’ve always wanted to.  Swim in their endless ocean.”

Akio’s mind raced, grasping for straws.  He fidgeted with his robe, still in his ceremonial garb, sword at his side. 

“That’s not practical.  Not with a newborn.”  Despite the words, there was resilience in her voice.  A sense of not giving herself and her home up so easily. 

“We’ll find a way.” Akio promised. 

He watched as his wife changed, something that would be publicly disgraced had the couple not been married, another one of those Kyberkan traditions that made no sense to him. Even so, most married couples’ intimacy was limited by their religious and ancestral beliefs.  Akio personally couldn’t care less.  The way Emi carried herself with the utmost grace and pride, even in her nightgown, was something to cherish.

Her eyes lit up, carefully watching him as he approached.  He wanted to forget about all the problems that had burdened him just for one moment, one moment that he could share with his wife.

They were close enough to feel one another’s warmth, her fingers tracing her bare leg, up and under her gown.  Akio let his hand caress her face, leading down the nape of her neck to her back.

“Get down.” Emi whispered before a blur of steel flashed over his shoulder. 

Akio spun around just in time to see the dagger hit a shadowed figure, dropping the attacker to the floor.  Another assassin leapt over the motionless body, charging at the two.

Instinctively, Akio drew his sword, the molten blade lighting up the room, it savagely emanating heat. 

With a vicious swipe, the katana struck the black figure, but a blue pulse shimmered as the blade caught his shielded forearm. 

The assassin was lightning quick, landing two furious blows on Akio, nearly sending him to the ground.

Emi surprised the assassin, kicking the hooded man in the side and sending him tumbling back into the doorway.

Another of Akio’s sword strikes was ricocheted up against a wall, burning a hole right through it. 

Realizing how careless he was being, Akio sheathed the sword back up and lunged for the assassin. 

One punch, then two, were parlayed away by the assassin’s swiping hands.  Quickly, a pair of darts were thrown back at Akio, one flying past his head and one striking his shoulder. 

The pain was immediate, Akio could feel himself losing feeling down his entire left side. 

Not wanting to risk turning his head, Akio simply hoped, prayed that Emi somehow had gotten Toshiro out to safety. 

With his good hand, he grabbed his dagger out from his belt and slashed at the assassin’s face.  He knew he had to hit skin to get through the ion-shield. 

Instead of backing away, the assassin in black pounced to meet Akio’s thrust.  All four hands interlocked around the short blade, struggling to wrestle the weapon free. 

It was too late for Akio to realize that it had all been a ploy. Three more darts pierced his back.  Instantly, he lost total control of his body. First of his arms, dropping the dagger, and then his knees gave out, falling to the floor.

As he looked back up, his vision blurry now, he could see the black figure walking towards the cradle, Toshiro’s cradle. 

Akio tried to scream, tried to say anything, but his mouth wouldn’t work. 

He wanted to close his eyes, remember the pure elation he had felt just yesterday, but he couldn’t.  He was forced to watch.

When the assassin reached the bed, instead of reaching in, his head flashed back up, wary. 

Neither the assassin nor Akio saw it coming, but when Emi’s spinning kick struck her assailant in the temple, the assassin immediately dropped to the ground. 

It wasn’t until she knelt to check on the man’s breathing had Akio noticed young Toshiro still in her arms.

Emi stood back up, seemingly satisfied, and attempted to rock the child back to sleep.

八

The clacking of metal on stone told the Wrens that it was morning.

“Must be someone on an ironmare.” Akio guessed.

After a sleepless night, Akio had regained his motor functions just before dawn.  He had offered to take Toshiro and let Emi sleep, an offer in which she flatly declined, and understandably so. He didn’t think he or Emi would be getting much sleep any time soon.

The two hadn’t spoken a word about the night’s event, partly because of Akio’s inability to do so for most of the night, but generally because of their outright exhaustion. 

Emi strode over to where Akio now sat. “Here, take Toshiro for a moment.” 

Cinching her robe shut, Emi hurried over to the closest window, the silken flora on her garment fluttering around her.

Red light stretched out from behind the mountains, Twin Sol’s wrath threatening another blistering day. Below, four metal men, not ironmares, carried an enormous palanquin. Gilded with gold, its wood painted blood red, and its size was nothing more than gluttonous. It was truly something to behold, even from where Emi stood. 

Visible gears turned in the metal men’s joints as they knelt in unison.  A woman, clad in trousers and a tunic approached the palanquin’s opening. 

Two swords, one on either side of her waist, hung at the ready.  She wore no headdress or makeup, just simple jet-black hair, cut short and slicked back.

Despite her attempt, or lack thereof, to avoid the social norm, Emi considered the armed woman’s style and poise be more stunning than anyone else she had ever seen on Kyberkan. It was pure and true of nature, not hidden behind a layer of make-up or wrapped up in golden ornamentation. 

The woman drew the palanquin’s curtains back, revealing the hunched back of a man.  A cape flapped in the wind as the broad man lumbered out. The suns’ rays shimmered off a strip of alloy hidden beneath the cape as he vaulted to the ground.

Emi’s eyes burned with fire.  “It’s your brother.”

She stalked back to her husband, dagger already in her hand.

“No, no, let me talk to him.” Akio offered. “You’ve done enough for us already. He’s my brother, my responsibility.”

Akio eased himself up, trying to keep young Toshiro asleep.

He watched Emi, knowing full well that she was thinking through every single scenario before she said.  “That’s fine, but I’ll be right there beside you, this is our battle, not just yours.” 

Before they went down, both Akio and Emi readied themselves. Akio tying his sword back to his belt, wondering just how many daggers Emi had hidden beneath her clothes just in case their discussion turned bloody.

A gentle knock at the door told them it was time. Akio handed Toshiro over to the babe’s mother, leading the two downstairs. 

At the door, Kojiro-Kan’s guard announced his presence as she bowed to the younger Wren. 

“Lord Wren, presenting your liege lord and Solarnate, Protector of Kyberkan, Defender of the Realm, the one true Solar Ward, Kojiro-Kan.”

The guard stood back at attention, her slicked black hair never faltering. Akio bowed back, only just slightly before his brother came into view. 

The Solar Ward ambled up to his first sword, Yuki Jinsoku, or as she was often referred to as the Whispering Wind, for that’s all you would hear before she struck, just a faint whisper of wind, and then death.

Kojiro, on the other hand was boisterous and the size of a mountain, yet he too killed with the same effectiveness as Yuki. 

Today he surprisingly wore more than he normally did.  Beneath his regal cape, which shimmered like the sunlight, he had a tunic on, collar up around his neck, a mosaic of tattoos peeking out from underneath. His pleated trousers rode high, hugging his plump stomach tightly, but what caught Akio’s eye most of all was that his brother had no visible weapon on him.  No blade or dagger, no type of ion pulsar.  Then the wind whipped their clothes to the east, and Akio was quickly reminded of Kojiro’s true weapon, Yuki his first sword.

“Lord Solarnate.” Akio bowed to his brother, much lower than he had to Yuki. 

“Please, Akio, we’re brothers.”  Kojiro-Kan let himself inside.  “How many times do I have to tell you?  No honorifics are necessary.”

Kojiro wobbled around as if he had just returned home after a long, grueling journey.

“You’re limp, is that new?”

A laugh burst out from the depths of Kojiro’s belly.  “You haven’t heard?”

“Heard? What?” Akio hated being in the dark around his brother.

“It was an assassination attempt.  Nearly got me too.” The Solar Ward rubbed his back. “They severed my spinal cord, left me for dead before Yuki got her hands on them. You know her, she didn’t really leave us a chance to find out who had sent him.” 

The burly man looked back over at Yuki disapprovingly.  “Still, she saved my life and got me to the medtech.”

“I did hear about that.” Akio remembered. “I thought it was a nasty rumor, maybe from one of your vassals.”

“Aye, but what they wouldn’t dare spread was the news of my recovery, my spinal augmentation.” Kojiro clanked his fist on the slab of metal that ran down his spine.  “Within a year I’ll be spryer than I’ve ever been.” 

The larger of the two brothers paused to show off his limber knees.  “See?”

“So, there’s some mechanical contraption keeping you up on your feet?”

“Aye, and all of that tech, it’ll keep me alive longer too.” Kojiro blissfully added.

Quite abruptly, the Solar Ward stopped short, right at the entrance of the Wren’s sitting room.  “Oh, Emi, you’re here.”

Akio could feel his wife’s dead stare piercing through Kojiro-Kan’s thick body.  He ushered his brother into the room, all three, with Toshiro by his mother’s side, sitting on their knees.  Yuki stalking them in the darkness of the door frame. 

Kojiro-Kan started first.  “I won’t waste either of your time.” The metal braces around his legs were clearly visible now.  “You are part of the Wren bloodline, Akio, as is your son.  The Galeon Dynasty requires any child in line of power to be seen by the Blessed Eye.  You both know that, and you both know that one day the rule of Kyberkan can fall into your son’s – “

“Toshiro.” Emi cut in, wanting Kojiro-Kan to put a name to the child that he prosecuted.

“Into Toshiro Wren’s hands.” The Solar Ward finished. “You both know the reasoning for this, it helps prevent and weed out anyone not fit to rule. Even the High Lord himself was put under the Eye’s gaze.”

“And yet somehow you are fit to rule?” Emi spat out.

Akio was indignant. “How can you trust a piece of tech? A computer to tell you how to live your life?”

Kojiro stared at his two hosts, not understanding why they didn’t just get it.  “It’s not that simple.  It’s been proven for centuries. It has correctly predicted every officially documented seeing, even if it is nothing but a glimpse.”

“How can I know you’re not the one dictating what is shown, what the Dynasty wants us to see?”  Akio shot back.

“Why must we do this every time?”  Kojiro exhaled.  “Because you don’t want to believe what our mother saw of you to be true?”  He started to raise his voice.  “Because you found love?  And married and had a kid?  You think the Blessed Eye is wrong?”

“Yes!”

“Wrong!” Kojiro slammed his meaty fist down on the wooden floor.  “You are wrong!  When you die alone and afraid, I will come find you, just to tell you that you were wrong!”

Kojiro-Kan’s voice shook the entire house.

“Now, I am your liege lord.” 

“What happened to you just being my brother?”

“Enough with niceties!” Kojiro barked. “I am your liege lord. You have sworn your allegiance to me. Your wife too. You have both sworn to give your life if I so order it. Right now, I could ask you both to sacrifice yourselves, right here, right now if I wanted to do so!  And you dare disobey me?!”

Spit flew from the Solar Ward’s mouth. Yuki stood still, waiting for her next order.

“The penalty for treason is death, do you want me to order your execution and just end this?”

His cheeks still trembled even after his decree.

Emi and Akio silently talked to one another, every single movement or glance holding worlds of meaning. 

“Our stance will not change.”  Emi finally said. “I rather face death if that meant Toshiro got to live his life free of the Eye.”

Kojiro-Kan dropped his head into a grasping hand.  “I knew you would say that.” 

He abruptly stood up, the couple winced at the unknown.  “The only other punishment then is banishment. From this moment on, every male Wren, starting with you Akio is to be put under the High Lord’s command at Terminal Bastion. You will serve him, you will fight for him, you will die for him, if need be, and once Toshiro is of age, he too will do the same.”

“And we will not have to submit Toshiro to the Divine Seers?” Emi couldn’t believe what Kojiro was proposing.

“Yes, under the Dynasty’s close watch, I don’t think that will be necessary.”  Kojiro-Kan had a slight smirk on his face.  “That’s the best I can do, as your brother that is.”

“And you will leave Emi and Toshiro in peace?” Akio asked.

“Yes.”

“Will I get to visit them?”

Kojiro looked up, wondering when this all will come to an end.  “From what I am told, members of the battalion get a home-stay once every five years.  Now, do you agree, or will I have your heads?  Either way, I’ll have the next heirs-in-line out of my way!” 

A tiny sneeze brought Akio’s attention to Toshiro, who wrestled in his mother’s arms. The young babe gazed up at his father, reaching out his tiny fingers, clutching the air for his father.  It was then that Akio knew the right thing to do.

“I agree.”

八

Nearly five standard-years after Akio had left for Terminal Bastion, Emi stood patiently, waiting outside Sandspyre space port for Akio’s first visit home. 

Toshiro, now five, ran around his mother, chasing his own shadow. He giggled his way around and through strangers, pausing for a moment when he’d lost his shadow, and then giggling once more when he’d found it.

“Mommy, look.” Toshiro called over. Once he knew he had his mother’s full attention he jumped up, landing hard, back on the ground.  “You see?  I caught my shadow!?”

Emi couldn’t help but smile, the skin folding around the corners of her eyes as her face lit up with joy.  She hadn’t aged much since Akio had left, or at least she didn’t think so, just some gray hidden beneath her dark veil of hair.  She was curious how Akio would look, though, now a military man.  He’d always been so passive, at night she often worried how he would do at the Bastion.

Particularly, she didn’t get any sleep the night before, constantly wondering what she would do if Akio wasn’t on the transfer ship today.

Still, Kojiro-Kan kept his word, Emi and Toshiro were left alone all five years, so she didn’t think any harm would have come to her husband. 

Being in Kyberkan’s capital city felt like another world to Emi, and each time she visited, the city seemed to grow to unimaginable proportions. 

“Mommy?” Emi felt a light tug on her side. 

Toshiro waited patiently, smiling up at her the only way a child could.

“Yes honey?”

“Mommy, do you think daddy will remember me?”

Her heart pained her whenever her son asked about his father.  The little boy looked more and more like Akio every day, she just hoped that today wasn’t a disappointment for the young boy. 

“Yes, Toshiro, of course he will.”  She knelt down beside her son.  “Who can forget such a cute face like yours anyway?” 

She playfully squished Toshiro’s cheeks, then ruffled his already messy hair.

“Mom…”  Toshiro grabbed hold of his mother’s hand before submitting to her loving embrace. 

Time can stand still when you hug your child, wishing they’d never grow older.  It was one of those moments that a parent can always seem to recall.

“Emi?” A voice called out.  It was like hearing a song that you once knew, it sounded familiar, she just couldn’t put her finger on where she had heard it before. 

“Dad?” Toshiro asked, curious at the sight of the strange man.

There, standing at the top of the platform was Akio.  He looked as though he had just left the day before. No added wrinkles or gray hair or hunched shoulders. 

No, he stood proud in his high-collar military jacket, stitching on the arm indicating his current rank. 

“It is you.” He said as he got closer.  “I couldn’t tell from where I stood.”

Emi let Akio’s arms wrap around her, dropping her head onto his shoulder before finally embracing one another. Yet something felt off.  Perhaps it was the five years in between them or her suddenly feeling her age in the arms of a man who looked five years her junior. 

Finally, she pulled herself back. 

“Akio, you haven’t aged a day.”  She traced his clean-cut jawline in disbelief.

He looked down in what could have been perceived as a blush. “Yes, well, it’s five standard-years in between my visits here, but because of the travel time to and from Terminal Bastion, I’ve been in stasis nearly as much time as I was actually on the base.”

“Daddy, daddy.”  Toshiro cut in. “It really is you!”

“Yes, yes, it’s me.”

Emi watched as Akio took a step back, not sure what to do at first or how to act around his own son. 

“Toshiro.”  He finally said.  “I dreamt everyday of this moment, right here with you.”

He carefully held his hands out, Toshiro jumping into his arms.

“Why don’t we head home?”  Emi suggested.  “Your father has had a long day and needs to rest.”

“Yeah.” Toshiro shouted.  “I can show you my room, and my books, mom’s teaching me how to read, and, and Hiro!”

The couple started to walk towards where Emi had tied up their ironmares.

“Who’s Hiro?” Akio asked.

“Oh, he’s my best friend. Mom sewed him together for me.  She says he looks a little like you, but I don’t think you’re as squishy as he is.”

“I’ve got two more hidden in the upstairs closet just in case he loses one.” Emi whispered over to Akio.

He couldn’t help but laugh, hiding his smirk from his son’s glance.

That, Emi thought, felt a lot more like her Akio.

Emi handed Toshiro up to Akio, who waited on one of the ironmares before she mounted hers.

Ever since Akio’s last day on Kyberkan, she had adopted Yuki Jinsoku’s style or wearing trousers in place of robes and gowns.  She had felt free wearing them, being able to chase young Toshiro with ease instead of having to worry about being a proper lady.  She waited for any word from Akio as she mounted.  The slightest of compliments or even an acknowledgement but got none.

The ride was a long one back home, but one that was welcome now that the suns began to set. 

“So, dad…” Emi heard Toshiro say to his father.  “Can you teach me how to sword fight? Mom thinks I’m too young to start, but I thought if it was with you, we could.”

“Toshiro…” Emi called over and the young boy jolted up as if he’d been caught red-handed.  “I told you, Toshiro, your father is only with us one night and day before he has to go back, so we’ll do what he wants, not what you want.”

“But mom, I want to be in the military just like dad, I want to fight all the bad guys.”  Toshiro protested.

“There’s no fighting going on right now, little guy, just peace.” Akio stepped in.  “But being a sword master isn’t about striking down all the bad guys you can find.  It’s about controlling your own emotions, knowing when to strike and when to hold.  Self-control is more important than looking cool with a sword, okay?”

“Alright…” Toshiro groaned.

Kaze-no-Yama was just starting to pierce the horizon, its frosty peak barely visible to the naked eye. 

“So, no sword training?” Toshiro whined.

“No, not this time.”  Akio said.  “Why don’t we go home and have some dinner, and then afterward you introduce me to Hiro?”

“And you can tell us all about Terminal Bastion.”  Emi suggested.

“Yeah, dad, and I’ve got so much to tell you.  Mommy had me make a drawing every time I had something to tell you, so I have a lot to show you!”

“That sounds wonderful, Toshiro. Tomorrow why don’t you show me all of those?  That’s more important than hearing about some lousy military base.”

“Yeah, it really does.”  Toshiro laughed.

Emi sat in silence, hoping they’d be able to reconnect as husband and wife as quickly as he and Toshiro seemed to have.  Yet, even if they did, what good was a day when five standard-years seemed like nothing to Akio.

八

Ten standard-years after Akio’s exile and five since his last visit, Emi and Toshiro found themselves once again outside Sandspyre space port, awaiting Akio’s arrival.

Toshiro, now ten, nearly stood shoulder to shoulder with his mother. 

Wooden swords were slung across both of their backs as they waited.  Emi had started to teach Toshiro swordsmanship over a year ago, so they took today as an opportunity to train at Hologrove Park, Sandspyre’s immense, terraformed park at the heart of the city.

Nevertheless, after everything Emi had done over the last ten years for her son, he still waited eagerly to see his father, not even glancing at her. 

She wanted to scream and yell, I’m the one who loves you, who cares for you, just look at me and tell me how much you love me. Don’t ask me if father is due to arrive soon. 

But a young boy, nearly a young man, can’t help but idolize his father, even if it is from afar. 

 Emi tried to calm herself. It is what it is, my karma is mine to bare, she thought, besides, a young boy should look up to his father. 

She tried her best to fill both roles, but she could only do as best as she could. 

Some days Toshiro seemed to admire his mother, helping where he could around the house, other days it was as though a switch went off in his head and he despised her with all his heart. 

Those were the worst of the days. 

Today was especially hot, or perhaps it was just the hour-long workout she just put in with Toshiro. Either way, she could feel the sweat pouring down every crevasse of her body.  She supposed that was the price she must pay for being forty standard-years old and trying to keep up with her spirited son. 

She pulled her hair up into a tight bun to help alleviate Twin Sol’s ferocity.  Her hair continued to gray over the last five years, the thoughts of Akio in his perfect, stasis state, returning and shrieking at his shrew wife constantly flooded her mind. 

At one point, she resorted to dying her hair before she finally asked herself what it was all for.  Had Akio been on Kyberkan with the two of them, he too would be aging alongside her.  If anyone should accept her for who she is, it should be Akio.

What an awful thing to live through, she thought one night, crying herself to sleep, to age at a different rate than your soul mate. To be the same person, but somehow not the same person each time you came back together. 

Emi reached over to wrap her arm around Toshiro’s shoulder.

“Dad! Dad!” He cried out.

There was Akio, grinning down at them from the platform.  He walked slowly, deliberately, like a man doing community service. 

Toshiro ran after his father. “Dad, look, mom started to teach me, but if you have time -“

“That’s great Toshiro.” Akio cut his son off. 

Akio leaned in and kissed his wife on the cheek, his lips against her skin brought Emi momentarily back to their younger selves. 

“Hey dad, look.”  Toshiro tried to pull his father’s attention back.  “We bought a third mare! Now I can ride back by myself.”

Emi could see the new ranking on Akio’s sleeve, all the accolades he must have received while at Terminal Bastion. 

His mind was on other things now, Emi thought, maybe even more important ones than the two of us. 

He rarely spoke of his position during his visit five years earlier and Emi expected the same this time. It was as if he was ashamed of it, or worse, ashamed of them. 

In many ways, he was a new man, he even carried himself in a different manner. The way he styled his hair seemed foreign to her, his clothes, his uniform were all otherworldly. It was a world she would never know, but one in which he lived in every day. His only connection back to them was Toshiro, their dear Toshiro.

The boy tried terribly hard to get his father’s attention, and more so, his approval as the three marched on home.  Akio would nod and force a grin every now and then.

Even without speaking to her husband, Emi knew she’d never see Akio again, not her Akio at least. 

八

Emi and Toshiro sat cross-legged in their garden.  A pot of tea burned on a fire.  Night had fallen and Emi had her shawl draped over her shoulders. 

Toshiro scratched at the little peach fuzz that had started to grow on his chin. 

“I can’t believe father didn’t show up.  I hope everything is alright with him.”

It was now fifteen standard-years since Akio’s exile and five since the Wren family had been whole. 

“He is fine.”  Emi said, carefully examined her son.  “We would have gotten word had anything happened to him. Still, I feared this day would come. Ever since the last time we saw your father, I knew it would be the last time. I could see it in his eyes. His heart might have wanted to be here, but his mind was elsewhere. I knew sooner or later the rest of his body would follow suit. I just wanted you to come to your own conclusions.”

The young man traced his finger in the sand around him.  “What is a father, anyway, who’s only been one for two days at best.  He’s become just a flash in the corner of my eye, nothing more.”

Emi had seen an uneasy rage grow inside Toshiro the older he had gotten.  It was the same fire that burnt inside of his uncle, the Solar Ward, who’d been nothing but a ghost since the exile.

She tried her best to redirect Toshiro’s anger, to help control his emotions, but in a budding young man, sometimes that attempt was futile.

“Toshiro,” Emi coughed into her shawl.  “Never forget the reason your father is where he is. The sacrifices that were made for your freedom. Would you give up your life, your soul, for someone you had just met?”

She knew there wouldn’t be an answer, like the desert beetle, Toshiro shielded himself within his hardened shell. 

“Your karma is yours, not the Dynasty’s. Your future is unbound.”  She traced a straight line in the sand, not an end in sight.  “Instead of being caught in the Eye.”  She drew a circle, closing in on itself in the sand.  “Don’t waste what your father has given to you.”

“What good is it if I’m next?”

Emi’s spindly fingers twisted around her thick braid.  “What do you mean?”

“I’m next, mom. In two years, I’ll be shipped off to Terminal Bastion.  Exiled from home, from you.”  Worry washed over Toshiro’s face.  “What if…”  He didn’t want to say the next words.

“What if you change, like dad?” She asked before another cough caught in her throat. 

Looking over at her son, Emi could see her young toddler once more, afraid of the unknown world ahead of him.   

“You won’t.”  She said, positive of the matter.  “Think of the impact you can make from within the Dynasty. The people you will talk to, the connections you will make.  You would never have that opportunity stuck here on Kyberkan. You are forging your own path, Toshiro, why not burn right through the heart of the Dynasty?”  She cut a line straight down the center of the circle in the sand.

A fit of coughing interrupted her thought. 

Toshiro pulled the pot off the open flame and poured his mother a cup.  “But what about you, mother?” 

Having composed herself, Emi took a sip of the tea. “Me?  I’m nearing the end of my path now, don’t worry about me.  Your success is mine. Yours is just a continuation of my own.” 

She reached out and held her son’s hand.  She couldn’t remember the last time he willingly allowed her to hold his. 

“But you deserve more, mom.” 

Emi thought that she could see the entire universe deep within Toshiro’s eyes. An infinite wealth of knowledge hidden behind their youthful naivety.    

“You…you were always there for me, mom, and I guess I never realized that until now.”

“No.” She shook her head. “My karma is here, on Kyberkan. My self-appointed prison.”

“But what do you want, mom?  Whatever you want, you deserve it.”

Emi wasn’t sure what she wanted.  In fact, that was the first time anyone had thought to ask her that question. What had she wanted from life?  Her heart swelled with a love she didn’t think existed until that moment.

“I just want peace for now.  To enjoy my last two years with you before you are sent away.  That is all.” 

She pulled her knees up against her chest, wondering what life without Toshiro would be like, what life would be like without Kyberkan. 

It all sounded like a fever dream.

At least she had Toshiro now, with her, this very night.

That’s all a mother could ever ask for.

八

Toshiro did see his father again.  Not in person, but in holo-form. It was two standard-months after he had announced mother’s death.  Toshiro figured Akio’s delay was due to the distance between planets, but he knew in reality it was because Akio had no idea what to say to his grieving son.

It was the day before Toshiro left for Terminal Bastion.  To start his new life, set his new course. 

In the holo, Akio’s eyes had lost their life, just a cold, blank stare. He finally had some gray hair, silver wings forming above his ears. Toshiro knew his mother would be happy to see that. 

Still, he wondered what another life would be like, barely aging while loved ones died around him. He would have lifeless eyes too. 

Toshiro gripped the holovid’s pedestal, the message was just about to start from the beginning again.

Akio stiffly cleared his throat. “Toshiro, I hope this message reaches you before you leave for Terminal Bastion. I just got word of your mother’s passing. 

“Frankly, I don’t even know what to say.  I’m heartbroken, as I’m sure you are. We barely know one another, Toshiro, especially this version of yourself. I still have faint remnants of your younger self running around in excitement.

“I hope you were able to make up for all the time that I missed by spending it all with your mother. She was a truly magnificent woman, and frankly saved your life, a fact that I’m sure she never even mentioned to you.”  He paused.  “I just hope you didn’t take her for granted.”

The older Wren wiped his gnarled hand across his face before continuing. 

“I thought I was throwing my life away to save yours, but I was able to find myself here. The Blessed Eye makes all the sense in the world now, and yes, I will die alone, but it will have all been done for a damned good reason. 

“All of that time I was running away from my future when it was right smack-dab in front of me the entire time.”

He shook his head in disbelief, the purple-hued holo flickered for a moment. “Hopefully when you enroll here you will see the light too. The Eye’s true sight.”

Akio closed his eyes, knowing full well that Toshiro would curse those words as soon as he heard them. 

“Before my time is up here, I should let you know that I’ve been granted a transfer off of Terminal Bastion, a retirement position on Galeon under the High Lord.  One day I hope to see you again, Toshiro.  Good-bye.”

His words stung like a knife in the heart. Toshiro shut the holovid down, tucking away the player in his satchel.

He closed his eyes, tracing his hand along the shrine that he’d built for his mother.  It basked in the suns, just outside of their house. A picture of the two of them, his wooden training sword, and even little Hiro, all there to remind the world of her love and devotion. 

Hanging above the altar was a hand painting that Toshiro had made himself. A simple circle cut in half with a long bloody line through the center. 

“I’ll burn my path alright, right through the heart of the entire damned Dynasty.”  Toshiro echoed his mother’s words.

An off-beat clanking echoed behind Toshiro, quickly bringing him back to reality.

“No need to kneel for me, boy.”  A graveled voice cackled out loud.  “No, certainly not here, today.”

Toshiro spun to his feet.  His father’s blade rested at his side, but he restrained himself from drawing the blazing sword.

“You.”  Toshiro spat out.

“Aye, yes, some call me that, but most call me Lord Solarnate of Kyberkan.”

Kojiro-Kan stepped forward towards Toshiro.  What you can see of the Solar Ward’s skin was stretched out, attempting to keep the old man’s skin young.  He wore his usual red cape, as he did on the day of Akio’s exile, but it was well-worn now from both sunlight and countless battles.

One leg looked more like an ironmare’s than human, while one arm resembled that of a ship’s blaster. Three swords swung from his hip, and his smile, his cruel smile, loomed over the boy.

Toshiro had never met his uncle before, but he certainly knew him well. You either had sand in your eyes or lived underground if you weren’t aware of the Solar Ward of Kyberkan, Kojiro-Kan. 

“What do you want?”

The Solar Ward’s bright red eye gleamed through its metal casing. 

“You, boy. I’m here to remind you that your time is up.  It’s time to join the High Lord’s ranks. Whether your mommy is dead or not, there’s no turning back, do you understand?”

“Don’t you dare speak of my mother like that!” Toshiro ordered.

Kojiro’s metal arm flashed before Toshiro, before he could move, it clamped around his neck, squeezing the breath out of him. 

“And don’t you dare speak to me like that again or I’ll have your head.  You’re just a tool and don’t you forget that.  A tool for me, and for his High Lord.  We’re going to melt you down into a pool of molten metal before reforging you into anew, just like your father was.”

“I’ll do as I please.”

He threw the younger man back up against the shrine. “No, you’ll do as I say. You and your father would be long dead had it not been for me, so if I ask to kill, you ask who.  You got it?”

Toshiro could feel the rope begin to tighten around his neck. He wanted to kill alright, he wanted to slice the intestines right out of the heavy-set man’s belly. 

He could feel his back pressing up against the shrine’s make-shift altar. The warlord’s rancid breath, heavily breathing down on him, and all he could think of was his mother. The strength of his mother standing up to the Solar Ward, and what Toshiro owed to her.

“We’re almost there, mom.”  He softly said to the altar.

“You got it, boy?” Kojiro-Kan demanded again.

Toshiro bowed, slightly.  “Yes, I understand.”

Almost taken aback by the subservience, Kojiro stumbled back before finding his footing. “Good. You’ll find out quickly that life’s a vicious circle, boy, eating up the spineless swines like you and your father. You will end your life just as your father will end his, as a faithful servant to the High Lord and the Blessed Eye.”

Kojiro-Kan began to collect himself, straightening out his hunched back.  “I’ll send a cart for you tomorrow morning, be sure you’re waiting outside of the house or Yuki will be sent in after you.”

Toshiro nodded an obedient nod.

“And take down this sad excuse for a shrine. You know fully well that all private shrines are to be kept just that, private.”

Another nod.  “Gladly, I’ll have it packed up with my other belongings tomorrow morning. My mother and I have had enough of this forsaken planet anyway.”

Kojiro-Kan stared back at Toshiro, as if inspecting the man and the ease in which he had bent around the Solar Ward’s will.

Toshiro patted the shrine.

“I’ll be back tomorrow.” 

Then he mounted his ironmare for home one final time.

八

Toshiro sat, his leg fidgeting, looking out from his vessel’s porthole.  He could see the entire promenade of the space port from where he sat.  According to the last in-ship announcement, he still had at least an hour until the stasis process would begin, so all he could do was wait. Wait and watch.

Not many runs occurred between Kyberkan and Terminal Bastion, so the Dynasty assigned one of their star-runners for the voyage. 

Toshiro imagined how nervous his father must have been during his first flight off planet.  Being on the ship felt like having a rocket strapped to the back of your ironmare and saying, good luck. 

Had the Dynasty considered this at all, Toshiro doubted they would have given his yearly credit quota upfront, and simply waited for him to survive the trip first. 

He was glad that they did though, he was able to afford one last luxury.

On the far side of the terminal, Toshiro watched a massive Solar Sailer preparing for lift-off. 

He wondered if anyone had caught on, or anyone had tracked him this morning. He thought for certain the Solar Ward had just the day before. He imagined the ruthless barbarian beheading him right there, and then going find where he had hidden his mother and kill her too. 

Had he played up his mother’s illness enough? Had he waited the appropriate amount of time before he publicly announcing her death? His father seemed to believe it.

Did anyone notice that the shrine he had built was perfectly placed on top of their sand-typhoon shelter’s access point?

More importantly, would the forged documents that Toshiro and Emi obtained hold up through all of the checkpoints? It took them nearly two standard-years to get them so he certainly hoped so.

Toshiro leaned forward on the edge of his seat, trying to see if there was any ruckus, any armed forces being led to the Sailer ready to drag his poor mother off the ship, but no, there was nothing. 

By this point, his nails were bitten down to small nubs, impatiently waiting for the Sailer to take off for Shinkai, the galaxy-renowned planet with endless seas. 

The wail of a horn nearly shot Toshiro through the ship’s hull.  It was distant but loud.  Then, in all its grandness, the Solar Sailer lifted up, gradually at first, making sure to clear the port, before it launched its ion drive. 

And then they were gone. 

Before nightfall on Kyberkan, the Sailer will have made landfall on Shinkai if all went well.

Toshiro sunk back down into his seat. The weight of a thousand worlds finally lifted from his shoulders. They had done it. His mother will finally get to hear the waves of the ocean in person, not just from some looping clip. 

Yes, today his path continued thanks to everything his mother did for him, but today wasn’t about Toshiro, today was about Emi.

Toshiro carefully removed his mother’s dagger from his belt.

“Here, take a little bit of me with you.”  His mother had said.  “This way if you ever get lost, you’ll always have a piece of me with you to guide you back.”

He knew he’d never see or hear from her again, but that was okay.  They both chose this path, together.

“No, mother, your journey isn’t over. Not yet.” Toshiro spun the dagger in his hand.  Carefully admiring it.  “It’s just beginning anew.”

Copyright William Meier Jr. 2023 ©