Home is home no more

Aricia’s face had gone white at Naera’s declaration. “They… they killed your world?” she said, a look of utter horror dawning on her features. Dustin stepped in at that point. “The ones you know of as the vanishing ones - the fallen among their kind, at least - they don’t treat all worlds the same” he began, trying to phrase things as carefully as possible. “Some worlds, they farm - like yours - treating the people like cattle. Others, they harvest and wipe clean of life. In one case, they went beyond even that, breaking the world into pieces on a whim. That is why we are trying to stop them wherever we find them.”

The butterfly woman shook her head. “Such horrors. It makes my own losses seem trivial in comparison.” That earned her another snort from Naera and a biscuit being unceremoniously shoved in her mouth. “Like hell it does. One **** or one million, it’s equally bad. Don’t try and rank horrors, you’ll go crazy doing it - took me a long time working with Trea’k to get that idea properly into my head.” The Caenii’s words were caring, and she followed them up by glancing at Dustin and adding “You better get treacle to work with her too, Captain. She’s going to need proper support, and from what the others tell me there’s not really such a thing as counselling among her people.”

Despite the short time since her awakening from the pod, Dustin and Bleu both agreed that they should return Aricia to the planet as swiftly as possible. Given their current plans, that would mean the following morning - and so the medic gave their guest a mild sedative later that evening to help her sleep in the medbay after the grieving woman had an initial discussion with Trea’k. The butterfly woman had been stunned by the multi-limbed Vex’ess, but the pair had spoken at length and Dustin hoped it would be enough to start the healing process.

The next day dawned on the planet below, and with it a host of activity aboard Sola. All of her shuttles were loaded with supplies for their soon-to-be revolutionary army, along with a number of ‘magical devices’ - communicators and so on - that Emely and Rye had agreed would be acceptable to start uplifting the butterfly folk. Ships were already coming from the Velca and Human homeworlds to expand the development of the locals, but they’d get nowhere until the corrupt theocracy was removed.

Aricia sat in the front of the shuttle with Dustin, by his request. Defia was onboard his vessel as well; Bleu was traveling down on another shuttle in her Fractal disguise for this handover between the “sisters”, but would be “returning to the stars” shortly afterward - actually just flying up for a quick orbit and return hop to give her the time needed to shift into her usual humanoid form and drop the dye, returning as a child of the stars rather than a Fractal. They would be needing a good medic soon after all; combat would be happening and with it injury or worse for their fledgling army.

The butterfly woman’s wings fluttered gently behind her as she peered out of the shuttle’s main viewport, watching the bustle as the craft’s final loading was completed and the ground crew headed back to their stations deeper in Sola’s corridors. “This is a boat that carries you between the stars? It seems more like a castle. And this is a carriage for shorter journeys, but I see no wheels nor means of harnessing creatures to pull it.” She mused, sitting with her legs crossed on her seat as Dustin ran through the pre-flight checks.

“It flies by…” he began, then shook his head. “It uses wings that you cannot see to lift itself, and then swims through the air and the space between the worlds. Just watch as we fly.” With that weak explanation given, he activated the main engines and the shuttle slowly lifted clear of the hanger.

Aricia’s mouth hung open as they moved, the shuttle-bay doors sliding aside to reveal the stars spread out ahead of them. “All those stars…” she breathed, her eyes misting as she continued “when I was young my mother told me that each of those stars held a home for someone, like they were fire-bugs calling a mate to their nest. She would tell me stories about them when I was frightened of the night, or of the vanishing ones; I used to look up at the stars and fall asleep dreaming of meeting people from those dots of light.”

The butterfly woman turned her head and stared at the planet below. “And now I see my home from up high and wonder how many others looked at the sky and saw my world as a dot of light against their own troubled night. Did others take comfort in the fire-bug that was my home?” Turning to Dustin as their craft adjusted it’s course downward, the woman added “Did you look up at the stars?”

Dustin tweaked the angle of their descent a little further until he was happy with it, then nodded. “All the time when I was young. My people are… more at home among the stars than yours. We have built great cities that fly in the night sky, sparkling down on our world like little stars of our own making. My parents worked to secure those cities when they were being built, when they were alive.” As soon as he said it, he realized his mistake; glancing sideways he saw tears prickling in the corners of Aricia’s eyes. “You lost your parents too? To the vanishing ones?” She asked, her voice cracking.

Quickly shaking his head, Dustin tried to change the topic. “Not vanishing ones, just foolish people who were angry and scared. Every world has it’s share of idiots, I’m afraid. When you dreamed of meeting people from distant stars, did they look like any of those of us that have come to visit your planet?”

Shaking her silvery hair, Aricia rejected his suggestion out of hand. “No; they were all like me - just with different wings, like those of fire-bugs or glitter-beetles. I never dreamed there would be people who lacked wings at all, nor that they would have built their own wings to soar through the sky and between the stars.” She stared down at the world below them and sighed. “I don’t even know if I have a home there anymore. My family are gone - and I had few friends to begin with.”

Dustin did his best to comfort the woman as they slipped into the atmosphere of her planet, the shuttle’s exterior warming gently from re-entry. The other shuttles formed around them, a loose formation that slipped down into a glorious morning before coming to rest at the entrance of the village that Rye and the others had started arming. A row of guards armed with the Rabyth-built repeater crossbows stood watching the craft come to rest before one turned and stalked away - presumably to fetch the elders, as they were all waiting by the time the shuttles opened their hatches and their passengers disembarked.

One of the elders gave a gasp and rushed forward as soon as Aricia stepped from the shuttle behind Dustin, the old man’s hands trembling as he grasped the woman’s. “Child… Oh my dear, you have returned to us.” Glancing up at Bleu, the man’s voice was reverential. “Great one, you have returned this child to us as you promised. We never thought…” the wings on the man’s back beat the air slowly as his voice cracked with emotion. Dustin swallowed, then stepped forward. “She was the only one we found - I aided in the mission to attack the fallen ones, but Aricia is the only one who had survived that terrible place.”

The other elders gathered around the group, all murmuring words of awe and encouragement to Aricia. Dustin watched her face carefully; Trea’k had suggested the previous night after Aricia had gone to sleep that meeting more of her kind could either help her to begin healing, or cause her to have a complete breakdown. To his relief, all she seemed to be experiencing was fatigue and joy at seeing so many faces she knew - even if her family were not among them.

As they moved away from the shuttles, Aricia turned back to him and spoke softly, her words edged with tiredness. “Do not leave without speaking with me, please? I… may have a request.” Dustin noted a hint of determination flash across the young woman’s face and nodded, before turning to speak softly with Rye regarding unloading of their cargo and the planned assembly of weapons.

It was sometime later before Dustin managed to speak with Aricia again; when he found her the butterfly woman was standing by a dusty and abandoned-looking house on the outskirts of the village. Taking a moment to thank the youngster who had led him to her, Dustin walked slowly up between the overgrown grasses that had sprouted for lack of care all around the house to stand by her side.

“This… was my home.” She said without looking around as he reached her, voice tinged with sadness. “I grew up here; my mother used to sing to us from the window there when we were playing.” She spun to face him, her wings beating the air rapidly to steady her turn. “It is not my home any longer. I can’t stay here - there is just too much that reminds me of everyone I have lost.” Her face was streaked with the tracks of dried tears, and there was anguish in her voice as she continued. “The many-limbed one - Trea’k - she says that I need help to get better, in my head. I need that help. And there are none here who can give it to me. Please - I know it is not right to ask this of a companion of the great vanishing one, but when you return to the sky and travel to see the other stars - will you take me with you?”