UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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Ethan nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Do they execute the ruler, or do they have to keep them alive?" He probably had too many questions.

~~
"Oh, I know that feeling," Vestia said sympathetically. She watched Amari snooze. Aww.

Skye looked at the amulet and tilted her head "That's that thing Starr made for you, isn't it?"

~~~
Dawn smiled and sat up again when he came in "You found it"

Kay shook his head. [It's the thing the Family forced me to wear.] He looked at it disdainfully. [I figured it might come in useful at some point though. ] He looked to Silence. It will allow you to speak, you think the words and it makes them verbal.

Silence frowned a little, tilting her head, then nodded and lowered her head so he could slip it around her neck.

Kay came over, chewing his lip a bit. This SHOULD work, right?
One just like it had allowed the little girl who couldn't speak to do so.
He fastened it carefully around Silence's long neck and stepped back.

Silence straightened up, looking bewildered. "How make it work?" She asked. Her mouth didn't move, the very human sounding voice seemed to come from the necklace itself. Weird. She looked startled.

Kay smiled softly It's disconcerting isn't it?

Silence nodded slowly. "strange." She spoke slowly, looked quite stunned. Was that really what her voice sounded like? She'd never heard it.

It will make communicating a lot easier. Kay pointed out.

"Why you don't use?" Silence asked.

Kay shook his head. Bad memories. But better some good comes of it than it just sits in a drawer.

Silence nodded slowly and looked back to Starr and James. "Understand now?"

Esk nodded. "it has checkers written on the box, it's not exactly hard." He remarked dryly. Okay yes, vestia had had to help him find it because there were so many damn boxes but he wasn't going to admit that.

James grinned at Silence. "Yeah, we understand you. This is a lot easier than making Kay translate, certainly. It must be weird for you though." He looked at Skye, "Now we can all talk to each other, one way or another."

Asher smiled. "Well that is a good solution." Nice to finally see that necklace used for something good, he thought. It had been so traumatic for Kay.

Kay nodded, honestly it was kinda nice to get rid of that thing and put it to positive use.

Silence nodded slowly, this was going to take some getting used to.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:
"So weird." Matt agreed.

"It's possible things were different on old Terra, this does look kinda like a historical drama," Ellie said. "I mean, that omnicom looks like it's from thirty years ago."

Matt shrugged. "No idea. Old terra, new terra, all the same to me."

"Terra was so different thirty years ago though," Ellie mused. "I mean, I'm not sure they'd even invented algae-lemon cookies at that point. The imperium must have been different back then too..."

Matt shrugged. "I dunno, maybe. The Imperium aren't big on history, not unless it's some great battle victory to commemorate. it's all forward thinking, the future is what matters blah blah blah. " He looked thoughtful. "Maybe the richer colonies have had more rapid progress than the poor ones, but to be honest, I was more interested in getting out completely than exploring the other colony worlds. "

"They seriously don't think about history at all? That's so weird." Ellie shook her head. "I don't think I'll ever understand those guys. I mean, I'm no history nerd, but it's like, something people reference a lot in the Terran Empire. Just talking about the creation of the robotic ravens to keep that Spanish tower from falling, or the 2563 revolution or whatever. The Imperium just doesn't really do that?"

Matt shook his head. "they say that history is there simply to learn from and that you should always move on. If something doesn't work there's no point dwelling on it, keep on going, get it right next time. " It was a bit weird when he thought about it. "There's not much care about where anyone came from beyond immediate parents, like.. nobody gives a shit if your great grandfather was some war hero, who the fuck are YOU you know? Yet they still have all these weird traditions and superstitions, just.. nobody really cares WHY they do stuff a particular way or whatever, they just know they should so they do it. I mean, they talk about great victories and huge accomplishments because they're important to remember but things like ravens or... uprisings? not really. You kinda just get told stuff has 'always been this way' and people just accept it."

Ellie shook her head. "How are you supposed to learn from history if you just forget it? That makes no sense. I mean you have to remember the dumb things you did so you won't do them again. Like how I made myself a marshmallow beard once, but I don't do that any more because i remember it was terrible to wash off. Only with history."

Dawn smiled at that then shrugged a little. "It can get messy in there"

~~
Skye smiled at Silence and nodded "Yeah, I can hear you now."

Matt laughed. "I don't even know what marshmallow beards are like but I shall take your word that it's bad plan." He shrugged. "I dunno how it works, I mean they must record stuff, they just don't seem to care so much about bringing it up all the time. They only really care going back like one or two generations. I dunno man, there's a big thing about people all having equal potential no matter what their background but it's crap really. The rich kids obviously will always have a better education prior to military school than the poor farming kids as well as more pushing from their parents to succeed. But the Imperium like to pretend we're all equal and parentage doesn't matter and blah blah blah.. heck, they made a HUGE fuss about my sister because she managed to claw her way through the ranks despite being half alien which is like, the biggest disability ever back there. She's like, this poster child of this idea that people's ancestry doesn't matter and everyone can be a good citizen if they want to be." He looked at the screen. "maybe their refusal to talk about past mistakes is why things never change there..."

---

Esk plonked the board down on the bed. "you're telling me? I think I got glitter on me moving some of that shit." He wiped the sparkling stuff from his gloves onto his pants. "this crap isn't coming off." Yeah thanks Kay and Asher, thanks a lot.

---

"mind silent. Why?" Silence asked Skye.

Kay shooed them out. [Not a meeting room, unless you're hurt shoo.]

"Stickiest beard ever," Ellie said. "So awful to get off, and then dirt and stuff sticks to your face for DAYS."
She frowned, thinking about that. "If they liked your sister so much, why are they so against aliens? They could bring in so many inspirational alien troops. The Imperium makes no sense, man. I mean Luka obviously loves it, but like, how? Do you think she knows about your sister?"

~~
Asher looked amused. "Aww, but I have to go too, and then you'll be all alone, Kay!"

Matt shrugged. "Jess put a heck of a lot of effort into basically disowning our dad's side. it's why she and Web don't really talk any more, he was kinda forced to take dad's side and she just... wanted to feel like she belonged somewhere I guess. " He shook his head, it was a crappy situation. "She doesn't have powers like we do, which I suppose helps too. and she's still HALF Satare, they like to pretend like Satare blood I dunno, means your better than your gross alien half or something. I mean you're still more scum than a full blood but you're not totally alien, which is like.. almost alright. Only it's not really because you still get spat at and treated like shit." He huffed. "but at least you don't get murdered I guess. We're still citizens so still have that protection. Not that it counts for much." He sighed. "Luka, well, she's full blooded Satare right? It's home to her, all she'd ever known. I must be hard to look at all you've ever been taught and know it was wrong. Don't you still love your home world? "

---

Kay narrowed his eyes at Asher, though he was smiling every so slightly. He shooed him too.

Silence backed away, not sure quite what to make of all this.

Skye read Kay's message and laughed, but headed for the door. "Alright, see you around Kay, bye Asher" She said before focusing on Silence's question "We aren't sure, almost all Artuvians are immune to magic, so we can't do things like talk telepathically."
~~~
Dawn chuckled and started setting up the board for them and explaining the rules as she did.

Silence stared at Skye. Immune to magic? No telepathy... it brought back unpleasant memories. "like others." She nodded. "bad. Hurt."

---

Esk found somewhere to sit, listening to Dawn explain the rules and nodding. He'd probably shed glitter onto her bedclothes too, damnit.

Ellie considered that. "Yeah, I guess I get why Luka loves her home so much. I mean, Humanists kinda have some beliefs that seem weird if you don't grow up with them. Maybe we're all a bit brainwashed. Like, the Satare aren't pure evil like the Terran Empire thinks, and the aliens aren't all out to kill us like the Humanists say, and maybe the robots arent all planning to rise up and kill us. But I still think the Satare are a little  messed up."

~~
Asher smiled at Kay, and let himself be shooed out along with the others. He waved to the others before heading off to find Esk.

James blinked. "Who was bad?" he asked at Silence's remark.

Matt nodded. "Oh I agree with you there, all kinds of fucked up." He absentmindedly rubbed at his wrist. "I think most cultures are when you really get down to it though."

---

"the men." Silence said, as if that was supposed to make sense. She looked frustrated. Words were so inefficient, how were you supposed to explain anything using words? She was a telepath, which meant her species didn't use words, they used feelings and images and abstraction to communicate their meaning. It was quicker and far easier she felt. She huffed. "Bad men, came, couldn't hear, took us away. Minds silent."

"Probably." Ellie shook her head. "At least in this movie, they don't do anything really messed up. So that's nice."

Skye frowned at that then shook her head "What did they look like?" She asked gently. "My sister and I were taken from our home by a bad man too, but we ended up here, safe."

~~~
Dawn didn't mind the glitter, it was actually kind of funny to have it, a reminder of when Asher and Kay had been shedding it everywhere. "Do you want to go first?" She asked when they were ready.

Silence frowned, tilting her head as she tried to remember. She didn't know how to put it into words. "bad." She nodded, she just couldn't describe people. She didn't know how.

---

"I suppose." Esk sounded pretty non committal. He looked at the pieces and moved one of them forward. He had no strategy here, he was just going to move pieces till the game ended.

James frowned. "Well that stinks. If it makes you feel better, Skye's like me. She's not going to hurt you, she's mostly harmless."

~~
Asher, having been directed by Vestia, knocked on the door to Dawn's room. "Hello? It's Asher."

Skye nodded and smiled a little "Yeah, I have no reason to even want to hurt you."

~~
"Come in" Dawn called, looking to the door curiously then taking her move.

Asher opened the door and wheeled part-way into the room. "If you're busy, I can come back later," he said apologetically.

"Just passing the time with a game" Dawn said with a soft smile "What's up?"