Rain. It has never rained on this day before…
I was born different. But they wouldn’t tell me how I was different. My parents sent me to this school at birth. I’d never seen them. Never heard from them. I just knew they existed. The elders ran this school. It was hidden away, they said. Not even the people of our own planet know where we are, they said. This school is for ‘special’ kids, they said. Well I must have been the most ‘special’ of them all. I had a private tutor. No one else, just me.
I didn’t look any different. I had white hair; a long, white, panther tail with ears to match; sharp, metal claws that I could retract at will from my finger nails; and huge, white, feathery wings. It was rare to have two different kinds of animal features. But there were a few like me at that school. Some had webbed fingers and toes with gills and scales like a fish, along with insect wings or even a duck bill.
I didn’t talk much when I was little. I was separated from other kids during classes and sleep times. I could mingle during eating or recess, but I was more of a mute child. I didn’t talk to anyone until my eighth birthday. The other children resented me from an early age for some reason. They chanted ‘princess’ when I walked or sat nearby. I never understood why they called me princess. I was no different from them from my point of view. But I didn’t see the point in talking to any of them.
My tutor’s name was Mon Koncaremo. His eyes were bright blue. He had thick, shaggy, grey hair, sharp canine teeth and wolf features.
“You can call me Mon you know.” He would nag. “I’ve taken care of you since you were born. You can talk to me. Call me by my first name. I call you by your first name, Eowyn.”
I stared out the window at the nature class. They were older kids. Much older. I was only eight at the time, but they were all at least fifty years old. They all still looked the same as they did when they were fifteen. But so did Koncaremo and he was thousands of years old. My people didn’t age physically past fifteen. We weren’t the only species who didn’t age. The Valdruds, a species of vampires, never aged past twenty. The Dalwerns, forty. The Talemuiry, ten. But not all species stop aging. Humans have pretty short life spans and age very quickly. But for my people we tend to live for as long as we don’t get killed. Only one thing can kill us. But it’s rare and very difficult to find.
“Eowyn please?” Koncaremo bent down in front of me, touched my hand and looked into my silver, watery eyes. I only ever cried on this day. In human terms the date was January thirteenth. My birthday. The other kids got gifts and letters sent to them from their parents on their birthdays. But in all eight years I had been alive, I never received anything from mine.
I wiped my tears away as the door to my tutor’s office opened. A tall man dressed in a dark fancy suit with white and black striped hair that was short and fuzzy on top his head, yellow eyes, and a rather handsome chiseled face, walked in. “Eon. How nice of you to visit on this lovely day.” Koncaremo’s tone lifted when he stood up to greet our guest.
“Is she still being stubborn? Has she still not said one word to anyone?” the man asked immediately. I scoffed at his question. He gave me a stern look. This man always came once a year to visit me. But he was never concerned with how I was or ever even gave me a compliment. He just demanded to see my records and demanded higher and higher education for me. I always did very well in all of the classes he pushed on me. I didn’t have to try hard but I wanted to show him that I could take whatever he threw at me. Koncaremo always complied. He would try to argue about pushing me too hard. Eon never cared.
“No, I’m sorry. But she doesn’t seem to be happy. Your daut… I mean Eowyn functions just fine otherwise. But she just doesn’t speak, or sing, or communicate to anyone in anyway. Her studies are excelling. She is a fantastic artist, although she only ever paints what she sees. I don’t think that she wants to communicate. She keeps a diary but I don’t have the heart to snoop.” Koncaremo reported. For a moment, I swore he was about to say daughter. But that couldn’t have been it. Eon looked nothing like me. His features were that of a white tiger. Mine were that of a white panther. Plus, he was a complete ass. Also, how could he have known where we were. Our parents weren’t supposed to know anything about us. He once called himself my counselor, though he never did any counseling.
“Well do, snoop that is. I need to know everything. What she’s thinking, her desires, all of it. Write it down and report back to me.” He turned and began to walk out the door. Then he stopped and turned to look at me. I lifted my head up and gave him a look like, ’What?’ “Happy Birthday Eowynala.” He said with a sad and worried look. Then he turned and walked out. He always said my full first name. but he had never showed any emotion toward me or ever wished me happy birthday before. The look on my face was of shock. Maybe he was my father.
Koncaremo sighed after the door shut. He closed his eyes, put a hand to his face and took a deep breath. He looked at me through his fingers. “Who is he to me?” I said with my first words. Koncaremo slowly dropped his hand from his face and just stared at me. “Please tell me.”
“He’s your counselor.” He said shakily.
“He doesn’t act like one. He acts like he’s king of the universe.” I responded.
“He just wants to make sure you grow up right. Now, since you finally decided to start talking. Do you have any more questions?” He knelt by me again and looked fervently into my eyes. He was eager to hear my voice again.
‘Now that I had started, perhaps it would be best to get some answers.’ I thought.
“Where do the screamers go? And why do they act like that? How come we never see them again after you take them away?” I poured out.
“The screamers?” He asked.
“The ones who start screaming and throwing objects around. They become violent and scream out in their feature voices. Why? And where do they go?” There were kids of many different ages who would be fine one day and then suddenly, they would roar and scream. Then they’d try to start a fight or rip some girl’s hair out. The elders would rush at them, pin them down, and drag them off somewhere unknown while they were still kicking and screaming. The other children called them screamers. But no one knew where they went after their violent episodes.
“Those children went through a phase called the Ikshtar.” He said with disappointment. He sighed for a minute, looked at me and then sat down. “I suppose in human terms you would call it puberty. It’s a phase that all species go through at one time or another, but for us it’s much different. Other species will change slowly, mood swings, acne, bodily functions, etc. But for us, we act like the animals we once were.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. The bell rang. It was recess. Koncaremo turned toward the clock. He stood up and walked toward his desk. He closed my file and put it away. I guessed class was over. I stood up myself and grabbed my bag. I went to open the door.
“I am curious.” Said Koncaremo. I stopped with my hand reaching the door. I didn’t look at him. I just stared at the door and lowered my hand. “Now that you have spoken to me, will you take the next step and speak to anyone else?” I looked at him straight in the eye and smiled for the first time. It was a mischievous smile.
“Of course I will. If the right person comes along.” Then I grabbed the nob and walked out.
I made my way outside with everyone else. It was the usual. The kids who learned their abilities early were tormenting the kids who hadn’t yet. The flames were catching pants on fire, the winds were blowing skirts up to look at panties, the waters were giving kids atomic swirlies, and the rocks were swiping chairs out from under their peers. And of course, I was a main target. At the flames I sidestepped their blasts, with the winds it didn’t matter because I wore pants, for the waters I just never used the bathrooms outside, and for the rocks I stood up before they took my chair. They all loved to try, but none of them could ever get a hit.
I decided to use my wings today. I flew up near the caged roof and flew over the crowd into the wooded area in the atrium. Finally, I had solitude. I walked as far in as I could without getting in trouble by the elders who were on patrol. If we went too far back we would get disciplined although they would tell us that going further would be more punishment than anything they could do to us. Some kids would spread rumors like, there was some kind of creature back there that would try to eat you, or there was a giant sink hole that you can’t see until you’ve fallen into it. I didn’t believe them. I just figured that they didn’t want to lose track of us.
I sat down and began to meditate. I slowed my breathing and came close to going into trance when I heard something. My ears perked up at the noise and swiveled to hear what it was. I opened one eye toward the noise. There it was. A boy, about my age, walked out from behind some undergrowth. He had come from much further in the woods by the state of his pants. I opened both eyes and looked at him directly. His features were that of a fox. Bright red hair, soft fluffy ears and a bushy unkempt tail. His eyes were wild green. He had this look of shock on his face like he didn’t expect anyone to be sitting down in the middle of the woods. His mouth curved into a mischievous smile as he put one finger to his lips and shushed me. I gave him a puzzled look. He rushed up to me with incredible speed and sat in front of me with the same position I was sitting in.
“Close your eyes, Dearie.” He said. Then I understood. I could feel it through the ground. An elder was headed our way, and he just decided to use me as cover. I closed my eyes and heard the rustling of the leaves and bushes as the elder ran up to us. He stopped when he saw us and stood very still. I could feel the tension in his body. Every muscle, every vein, every heartbeat, I could feel them all through the ground beneath me. Vibration. Someone was talking to him through a headset.
“No, we’re all clear. Just a couple pre-formers meditating a little too close to the sensors. Their energy must have tripped the alarm. … No, they’re not out of bounds. Close but not to standards of punishment. Over and out.” He said as he put his finger to his ear. Then he turned heal and walked away. When he was far enough away I opened my eyes again.
“Hi.” The boy was less than an inch from my face. His harshly bright green eyes staring into my stark silver eyes. I could feel his staggered breath against my face. “You’re that princess chick, right? The one that can’t speak?” I shifted my face away from his and gave him another puzzled look.
‘What was he doing back there? And how did he not get caught?’ I wondered.
“Well? What’s your name pretty princess?” I waited a moment. I thought about how he got past the sensors without getting caught. I wondered if what he did was a skill I should acquire. So, I parted my lips.
“Eowynala de Roshe enle Delveeton.” I said giving my full name. I had never said my full name out loud before. Hearing it like that made me think, ‘No wonder everyone called me princess, My name was long enough.’
He smiled that wicked smile again. It made me uneasy yet excited at the same time. Like you knew he was trouble but you wanted a piece of the action. “That’s a very beautiful name. Do you know what it means?” He asked. I shook my head. I didn’t know that names even had a meaning. He took my hand and traced a symbol of a star into my palm. “Your name means the same as a star in our old language.” When he let go of my hand an energy glowed from it. I saw the energy he left behind on my hand and heard an ancient voice from inside my soul whisper the word ‘Hope’. My first name meant hope. “Oh, by the way, my name is Chaing Juhona. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dearie.”
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