Stellarnet Rebel (25 page)

But they were too late.

Now she remembered. And how she wished she could forget, could sink into the darkness of unconsciousness and not see him trapped within the collapsed control room, not hear his whispers to her, not recall the fucking monsters that had attacked them and almost killed her, forcing Belloc to leave Duin behind to save her.

As her hand went to the stone hanging above her heart, her face twisted in agony and she began to sob.

“J’ni, meh,”
Belloc said soothingly, stroking her cheek.
“J’ni, speh gah. Buh oola vinishay.”

But how could she not cry? At that moment, she couldn’t imagine an end to tears. J’ni lost herself completely in the wordless oblivion of grief and was so far gone, that she didn’t hear someone else enter the room.

“
Nagloim
, are you trying to replenish the rivers of Glin?”

She opened her eyes and her body shuddered with hiccuping gasps. “Duin?”

He sat down on the edge of the bed, grimacing in pain from injuries that were still not entirely healed. “You must calm down. They can hear you on Asteria.”

She continued to cry, but the cause was elation and not grief. “You were crushed.” She tried to push aside her exhaustion and pain to reach out and touch him. He took her hand—the hand Belloc wasn’t holding.

“I needed a little medical assistance when I arrived. I had a punctured lung and several broken bones.” Duin indicated his chest, and various parts of his body. “But eventually, my natural healing ability took over, I’ve recovered as well as you have, with your nano-surgery and gen-mods. Though, I still won’t be hunting any
r’naw
for awhile.”

“I thought you were dead.”

“I’m not,” he replied, as if it wasn’t obvious. “I’m here.”

“How did you get out?”

Duin looked at Belloc. “He carried us. Or, carried you.
Dragged
me, if all that ‘road rash’ was any indication.”

“He saved both of us?”

“Yes, he’s a dumbass.” But the warmth in his voice told J’ni that he felt otherwise. “He should have left me to die. I wouldn’t blame him one bit for leaving me lying there, as useless to him as a skinned
wallump
.”

Belloc leaned over the side of the bed and spoke directly to Duin. “I would rather fail in doing what’s right, than succeed in doing what’s wrong.”

“How would it be wrong?” Duin argued. “You’d have her all to yourself, and you’d have revenge for your family.”

“Even if I left you there, I’d never have her all to myself. As for revenge, I’d rather forgive.”

Belloc reached out and put his hand over Duin’s and J’ni’s. He’d said
anah
. She remembered that, too. The three of them were married.

“I could not forgive the Tikati for taking my family—for
killing
my family. Yes, J’ni, I know what happened. Belloc showed me the vids you received from the Finders. And if Belloc had judged me by the same standard as I judged the Tikati, judged me for taking away
his
family, I would not be here.”

Belloc smiled and kissed J’ni on the forehead. “I learned mercy from a very wise judge.”

***

The sky was a wrinkled quilt of dark gray roiling clouds. The air twinkled with mist and glowing
weeol
. Between tufts of high, turquoise grass,
krich
beetles said their names. A river sang in the distance.

J’ni dipped her hand into a pool of luminescent algae. “Glin is beautiful.”

Duin spread his arms and took a deep breath. “Even more so, now that it is
free
.”

The Progress Center and several other Tikat installations were gone, bombed into non-existence. Most of the Tikati were also gone, and any remaining were being rounded up by the U.S. military. Duin would have been involved in those operations as well, had he not been wounded. Using Tucloup’s translator, Nish was assisting the humans and acting as liaison of the Freedom Council during Duin’s—and J’ni’s—recuperation. When Glin was secure and the Tikati gone, the U.S. promised to send scientists who would help Duin’s world recover from its ecological devastation.

But none of that would bring back
Willup W’Kuay
.

“I’m so sorry about your family, Duin.” J’ni spoke quietly, so that her words might have been lost in the wind that rustled the marsh grass.

But Duin could hear her. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. “Your sympathy is a welcome gift.”

“I wish I’d been the one to tell you what happened.”

“Belloc didn’t know when you would regain consciousness.” His voice started out strong, but wavered as he went on. “I needed to know what happened, and I needed to share those vids with Earth, Belloc knew that. And we needed to send someone out there to bring them h—”
Home
. His voice choked on the word as he lost his composure.

She held him as he wept, even if his eyes didn’t make tears.

Watching and tagging those vids had been the most difficult thing Duin had ever done. Belloc helped him type the names whenever Duin’s grief overcame him, and Belloc stayed by his side until every face was ID’d. As if Duin wasn’t already grateful enough, he was grateful to Belloc for that.

“I told him I was sorry for what his mother must have gone through, seeing everything and everyone she loved destroyed.”

“You did what you had to do during the Uprising, to protect what you loved.”

He pressed his forehead to hers, and sighed a shuddering sigh. “That it was necessary doesn’t make it any more palatable. But I think Belloc and I both understand each other better.”

“Speaking of Belloc, where is my husband?” Then she corrected herself. “
Our
husband. He left the base this morning and I haven’t seen him all day.”

Duin held her chin in his hand and gently rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb. “He’s building a hut, so the three of us can get away and enjoy being married for a while.”

“Humans call that a honeymoon. But I still want to have a wedding on Asteria.” She nipped at the end of his thumb and he grinned.

“As I suspected. Our followers would be disappointed if you didn’t. And Belloc would be disappointed, after all the planning he’s done.”

“I do love him, Duin.”

“Yes, I know.” He laughed softly. “I do, too.”

“And I love
you
,” she said, and kissed him. She whispered.
“Na oola vinishay, nagloim.”

“Pa na oola vinishay,”
he replied, and they held each other tightly, amidst the
weeol
and the mist, until it started to rain.

anah—yes

Anah Anah—A judge agreed upon by both parties to a dispute, literally “yes, yes.”

augla—greetings, hello

awah na glem—“water and freedom”

bava (plural bavat)—like a toga or kilt, woven from the
bav
plant, similar to linen

Bool—Friend of Ga’Duhn

Buh oola vinishay—a way of saying I love you, literally “my heart is yours”

della—ruffly flower

drizni (plural driznit)—flesh-eating water creatures

esh—elder

ezzub—useless idiot

fwap—long, fat, oily fish

Ga’Duhn—A Glin in dispute with Belloc

garrablug—large unfriendly creature

gop—type of tree

Glin—The planet and the people, “Ourselves” or “Our Place” depending on the context

Glippit—an eel in a children’s story

glum—glum, morose, dour

guet—water creature, similar to jellyfish

guh—what

Gurrpawub—legendary water demon

hala—children, applies to both male and female

hidal—uncooked Glin water chestnuts

iggli—an oozing, mobile fungus

j’ni—sacred flower of Glin

jub—part of the male Glin anatomy which remains internal until mating

karak’tukt—a kind of bottom-dwelling sludge snail

klup—something you shouldn’t leave on the floor

kreel—a creature something like a cross between a walrus and a lizard

krich—a beetle which makes a noise similar to its name

labbud—animal whose ivory-like bones make great utensils

leewl—a pretty fish with thready fins

Luin—Duin’s fifth child

meh—no

Meglin—Colony of Glin on Wandalin, literally “Not Our Place”

muk—little fish

nagloim—my love, literally “of my soul”

nagyx—soul stone, also soul bound

Na oola vinishay—A way of saying I love you, literally “my soul moves to you”

nargit–reeds, similar to sugar cane

naz—exclamation of pain, like “ow”

neep—worm, similar to a fuzzy caterpillar

nibbalug—creature with chocolatey crap

Nish—Glin from Duin’s village

Oon—Duin’s son and fourth child

ooji—ocarina sort of wind instrument, made from an animal shell

Ooli—Friend of Ga’Duhn

paboul da Glinna ercheswa—“What’s your name, my friend, it’s good to see you”

Pa na oola vinishay—A reply to
na oola vinishay
, more or less like saying “I love you too”

pelu—flute

pitat—plant with large leaves

pud—turd

puqui—big fish

r’naw—nasty things to hunt, teeth used as knives

razit—poisonous but soft fruit

rizwij—hallucinogenic herb inducing paralysis

Sahash—Duin’s daughter and third child

Sala—Member of Freedom Council and Duin’s mother

shellon—crunchy little bite-sized crawdad type critters

skish—soft algae-like material, used for bedding

sliss—water plants with long, sharp leaves

soom—bad storm

speh gah—“don’t cry”

stetl—a kind of crayfish-like creature

Tah Ga’lin—royal family of Glin

tah baheet—stars, literally “sparkles on the sky water”

Tib—Duin’s second son

tippa (plural tippat)—hut

Tucloup—Duin’s mentor, given a translator device by human scientists

udul—type of bird

Ullu—Duin’s wife, abducted by the Tikati

veeloo—“best friend,” specifically the lover of a spouse, but who does not want to join the marriage

Vindael Nidenn—Mother of Kehlen Nidenn

voo/voola—bye or goodbye, farewell

wallump—creature hunted and made into leather, clothing

wahn—find

Wandant—Finders

Wandalin—Finder planet

weeol—insect like a firefly

Willup W’Kuay—“Long River,” Duin’s watershed home

Wrill—Duin’s son and oldest child

wurak—whip, woven of long leather strips, used for fishing, hunting, sport

Yaggla—as in the Whirlpool of Yaggla, a raging storm in the middle of the Great Ocean. If your soul gets trapped there, it cannot be reborn in the rain. The Glin equivalent of hell.

zeet—dead/death, also the electric zap of their hands

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