The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (22 page)

“I know.” Alilia admitted.  “Every minute she’s awake, one of us have to be watching her constantly and closely, as she’s constantly bringing things over to look at them, or trying to fly away out the doors or windows.  It’s been a fun but frazzling experience for all of us.  It helps that the twins can be trusted to watch her for a moment here and there when we need them to.”

“Ah.  Well there’s not much I can suggest for that, but that’s not what’s concerning me.” Yzell replied.  “The thing is this; without any physical exercise, without even the minimal muscular efforts made in lying down and moving to be more comfortable, Valentia’s body is wasting away.  Her constant use of Levitation is particularly harmful.  She hasn’t gained any weight since she was born, in fact she’s lost a bit.  All of her muscles and tissues are atrophying.  You need to get her physically moving and interacting and exercising, and soon, or there will be permanent affects, both in her wasted physique, and in her lack of any ability to control it in order to move normally.”

She turned to Mark and Talia.  “Realizing that about Valentia prompted me to realize a similar fact about the twins.  They never speak or sing, or make any vocal sounds whatsoever.  They use psionics for everything.  I haven’t really thought about it because they aren’t yet at the age when most babies start to talk.  But when the rest of their physical abilities and development are so far ahead of normal, it’s obvious that their vocal development is falling far behind.  Except for the occasional cry when they stub their toes or whatnot, their only vocalizations are laughter.  I worry that if they don’t start talking and singing soon, they never will.”

“Hmm.  I’m sure Valentia won’t react well to being forced to stop using magic for everything, even for a moment.” Alilia thoughtfully stated.  “She has a nasty temper.  And I’m sure she
will
need to be forced; she won’t give up magic just because we ask her.”

“I’ll very slowly and gradually cut her off from the field of power, starting right now.” Mark decided.  “She doesn’t have much reserves, and in about an hour she’ll run out, and so will her Levitation.  Then she’ll at least get a normal night’s sleep.  She’ll be mad about it when she wakes up, but she won’t be able to do anything about it but fuss and cry, which should be good for her.  That’s what babies normally do when they’re angry anyway.  We’ll just have to be very patient and pleasant with her at all times, and start doing the physical training with her that you girls did for the twins when they were born.  We’ll give her as much physical play and attention as we can, to keep her moving and distract her from the fact that she can’t use magic.

“Once she gets her fitness back, we can start letting her use magic again for a specific time at the end of each day, then cut her off again when she goes to sleep so she’ll sleep normally.  She won’t like it, but as long as we’re completely consistent about it, she should eventually get used to it and accept it.  Once she can understand that we’ll let her use magic as long as she stays physically active, we should be okay.

“We’ll talk to the twins tomorrow about talking and singing.  I don’t know how they’ll feel about it, but at least they can understand common sense when they hear it.  I’m sure we can convince them of the wisdom of developing
all
of their abilities; their vocal abilities included.”

“All right then.” Yzell smiled as she stood.  “I expected it would take longer to find practical solutions for my concerns, but I shouldn’t be surprised.  You’d think I’d be used to you by now, Mark Longstrider.  Of course, your plan will have to take into account the fact that it will be quite some time before Valentia will sleep through the entire night, or stay awake through the entire day.”

“Oh we’re fully aware of that, believe me!” Mark chuckled.  “But her longest sleep period is usually when we go to bed.”

“She’ll wake for her feeding and diaper change about four hours past midnight.” Alilia stated a smile.  “So we’ve got about five and a half hours before the excitement starts.”

“She is going to have the champion of all temper tantrums.” Talia nodded.  “But we’ll all deal with it, I’m sure.”

“Thanks for coming by, Yzell.” Mark told her with a smile as he showed her out.  “And as always, thanks for all your help.  You’ve been a treasure.”

“Thank
you
, all of you.” Yzell countered with a grin.  “I gain valuable research information every time I come here.”

“Give our regards to your family!” Talia added as Yzell left.

Mark sat down on a sofa to think about what they’d learned, and Talia and Alilia climbed onto his lap and joined his contemplations.

“Bah.  I can’t think of any improvements to your plan.” Alilia said as she stood.  “Let’s get some sleep.  We’ll need it.”

As it happened, Valentia only let them have four hours of rest.  Then they had to face The Ordeal Of The Screaming Baby, which lasted for five hours until Valentia went back to sleep.  They were to face it again whenever she was awake for the next two weeks, except for the four hours they allowed her to use magic every evening.

Fortunately, she was asleep when the twins woke for breakfast the next morning, giving their parents a chance to discuss speaking and singing with them.

Mark led the discussion, and started by going over what Yzell had said the night before.

“I don’t see that it makes any difference.”
Reggie shrugged when Mark was finished. 
“I mean, so what if we don’t talk with our voices?  Using psionics works way better.  I can even sing to everyone at a gathering at once that way, if I wanted to, even when the hall’s full of everyone in the settlement.  I could never sing loud enough for everyone to hear me if I used my voice, and if I could, it would be way too loud for everyone who was close to me.”

“True, and if you have to sing to the whole gathering, that’s a good idea.” Mark nodded.  “But if you want to sing to just a few people, it’s better to use your voice.”

“Why?”
Reggie countered.

“For the joy of actually doing it.” Mark chuckled.  “If I wanted to, I could cast a spell that would play the harp for me, but it would never be as fun as actually playing it myself, with my hands and fingers.

“I hate trying to talk.”
Helemia stated, sounding irritated.
  “And we have tried.  We sound stupid, and it hurts my throat.”

“That’s only because you haven’t done it at all, and you waited too long before you tried the first time.” Mark explained.  “Now it’ll be harder because you waited so long, and the longer you wait, the harder it’ll be.  I’m sorry we never thought to work on this with you sooner.  But as Yzell said, if you don’t start talking soon, you might never be able to.”

“I don’t care.”
Helemia resolutely declared.
 “The unicorns don’t talk either; they use their psionics for everything just like us, and everyone thinks that’s just fine.”

“Because that’s what’s normal for a unicorn.” Mark patiently explained.  “But consider how everyone would feel if a unicorn learned to talk with his mouth, like we do.  A lot of people who don’t have much magic or psionics would really appreciate it, like the humans, the Selkies, and a bunch of other races.  But if that unicorn decided that he would only talk with his mouth from now on, including when he was only with other unicorns, his people would think he was so strange that they’d find it disturbing to be around him.  And that’s the biggest problem with never talking with your mouths; it makes people uncomfortable, and it makes some people feel like you’re showing off, and lording your superiority over them.

“That doesn’t matter very much here and now.  You’re still so young that you have no responsibilities, and everyone here knows you, so they give you some slack.  But if you ever want to work closely with people who don’t know you, or hold any positions of responsibility in the wider world after we leave here, you’ll find it a lot easier if ordinary people can relate to you.”

“He’s right you know.” Alilia added.  “A lot of people wonder how he became leader of the world, and not Somonik or Tithian or someone like that.  And a lot of the reason is that people can relate to him.  Everyone feels like he’s one of them, from the mightiest dragon to the smallest gnome, and they feel like they understand him.”

“I am
not
the leader of the world, and you don’t have to be either.” Mark patiently insisted.  “We’ll be just as proud of you if you decide to just live here like we do now for as long as you want.  But knowing you two, I imagine you’ll want to do more than that.”

“Of course we will.”
Helemia giggled.
  “Karzog says that it’s his honorable duty to follow the example of greatness that his parents have set, and I guess we’ve kinda picked that up from him.”

“I still find it hard to believe in the outside world.”
Reggie revealed with a smile and a shake of his head.
  “I mean, I know intellectually that it all has to be true; it’s impossible that everyone in the settlement could all have the same false memories, and the knowledge we got from the Sylvan is consistent with what we’ve learned here.  I know that you’re the ruler of Serminak, and that Povon and Kragorram actually run that continent for you from day to day, and that as Key To The Just Alliance, you’re the senior advisor to every government in the world.  That you and Mother co-rule these islands and Hilia and a bunch of other little properties, and that the two of you are considered key to the coming nexus of the world, and crucial to the future of everyone.  That Alilia here rules the forest elves as Princess of The People of Life, and Grandfather Yazadril is Prince of The High People and First Commander of all the world’s armies, and Reen is really a Prince of Sming, and second in line to be Emperor there.

“But I tell you, even knowing all that, I still don’t really believe it, emotionally.  I don’t even really believe in the time-bubble.  I guess I probably won’t until we leave here and I see it all for myself.  It all just seems too incredible.  To me, you’re just our parents, and we’re just settlers on an island in the middle of nowhere.”

“Ha,
I
believe it, and I can’t wait to get out of here and see it all!”
Helemia laughed.
  “And you
are so
the leader of the world, Father, everyone here agrees with it.  And they’re all sure that everyone else out in the world does too, even if you’re not choosing to exercise any authority right now.  You’re not the
ruler
of the world, but you are the leader, at least until everyone thinks there’s someone better to listen to.”

“And if you check our memories for the occasion when he
became
leader of the world,” Talia directed, “You’ll find that he achieved it with two speeches that he gave at the founding meeting of The Assembly of The Just Alliance.  It was his
speaking
ability that was crucial that day, along with brilliant and original thinking.  Not his power, not his psionics, not his might, but his
speaking
, and the sound of it was just as important as the words he said; the artistry of his tone and rhythm and cadence and delivery added greatly to the persuasiveness of what he was saying.  That should tell you that if you choose to not learn to speak physically, you’ll be giving up a valuable and perhaps crucial ability.”

“Wow.  That’s a very good point.  I never thought of that.”
Reggie admitted.

“Yah, me too.”
Helemia nodded. 
“All right, we’ll start working on it, but not here, or anywhere where anyone could hear us, even accidentally.  We’ll do it out by the goat shed.”

“Yah, I sound like an idiot when I try to talk, and I hate that.”
Reggie agreed.

“I’m sure you sound like adorable little babies, which is what you are!” Talia smiled as she reached over and ruffled his hair a bit.

“Not in any of the ways that really matter, we’re not.”
Helemia insisted.

“Maybe not.” Mark smiled as he finished his breakfast.  “We’ll go work on your speaking as soon as you’re finished eating.  If you try hard, we’ll work on magic after that.”

The community grew quickly.  A month later Equemev announced that she and Silaran would be having a colt in about a year’s time, a week after that two of their unicorn friends announced the same, and a week after that Mandri and Dren’s son Sollen was born.  The human families had produced another eight children by then, and even one of the elven couples announced that they would have a child.

In the twentieth month since the settlement’s founding, Nek Sibook and Prince Reen of Sming were married in a lovely ceremony in the gathering hall, with the entire community in attendance, and the next day she announced that she was with child.

Reggie and Helemia worked on speaking and magic with the same dedication they showed in every other subject.  Valentia was difficult and moody for the first three weeks after she was born, until she finally seemed to accept the schedule her parents set for her.  She gradually resumed normal physical activity, and her vitality and muscle control increased quickly.  After that her physical skills seemed to improve as quickly as the twins’ had.  She walked at six weeks and ran at eight, and started talking shortly after that.  The twins always had time for their baby sister whenever she wanted their attention.  They spent a lot of time playing with her or in psionic contact with her, or both, as did Alilia, Mark, and Talia. 

Four months after they started learning to talk, the twins were fluent enough that no further lessons were needed.  At that point they began a conscious campaign to earn the affection of the community.

First they visited their great-grandmother Sana at her restaurant early in the morning, and asked her to teach them how to bake cookies.  She was delighted to show them, and they spent most of the day in the restaurant’s kitchen with her, baking cookies and getting to know most of their female relatives on their father’s side and a few of the males, all of whom worked in the restaurant for a few hours each day.  They insisted on paying for all the cookies, over eighteen hundred of them, with a gold chip they’d earned from their parents for looking after their animals.  Then they promptly gave cookies to everyone in the restaurant, staff and customers both.