She Who Woke Among Eternity

“Sorry I’m late,” Des said, taking a seat across the table from Mable. The restaurant was a little busier than Des would have liked, but then again, this had been intended to be a brunch instead of a lunch. Most people were having or about to start their lunch breaks, so it was bound to stay a little busy. It would be fine, though. Important conversations could easily occur in a crowd without others overhearing.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mable said with a hint of feigned annoyance. “I just had to tell the waitress that ‘I’m sure he’s coming’ for the past two and a half hours. Look,” Mable pointed to a glass slightly filled with a sparkling golden liquid, “she even gave me a free glass of champagne for my troubles.” She leaned in across the table a little and whispered, “I think she was certain I had been stood up.”

“Well, now you aren’t stood up, and you’ve gotten a free drink,” Des said with a smile. As he spoke, the waitress came over, with obvious surprise in her eyes.

“Looks like the party’s arrived,” she said with a gentle chuckle. “Anything I can get you, or do you need a minute with the menu?”

“I had plenty of time to look at the menu on my companion during the traffic jam. I would love a cold glass of prispen tea and the fried flad sandwich.”

A smirk crossed Mable’s short muzzle. “You really want something fried after your shuttle sickness?”

“I had plenty of time to get over that before I finally arrived.”

“And for you, hun?” The waitress asked.

“Well, if we’re going with heavy food, I’ll have the brebst medium-rare.”

“Wonderful, I’ll get that going for you two.”

“I see you’re back on a heavy meat diet,” Des said to Mable as the waitress left.

“Retirement has its perks. No more needing to fain being a plant only kind of kin.” Mable let out a sigh as she leaned back in her seat. “I missed my dad’s home cooking. His steak is the best.”

Des couldn’t hold back the smile that bubbled out of him. Must be so nice to leave the intelligence life behind and go back to small planet living. Maybe one day he would follow. Then again, he wasn’t entirely sure Mable had fully put all that behind her just yet. “How have you been holding up after meeting Avalyn?”

Mable’s left ear twitched just a little. “Fine.” After a moment, she said, “Dad’s been a little down.” Though she covered it well, shame still lingered in her voice. “I try not to bring it up, but I think it’s really eating at him inside.”

“He made a choice to put you first. He did what all fathers should do, even if it pains them.” Des didn’t like to think about it, but he had lived through the opposite of that a number of times. Having a god as a parent wasn’t as amazing as people assumed it was. Sometimes a god’s people were more important than their own children. When Mable didn’t respond, he asked, “Have you truly been keeping out of it, or are you checking in on others more than you should?”

“Is that why you came to see me? You said I wasn’t the primary contact, so I’m keeping my nose out of it.” Her expression was too bland. Too nonchalant.

Des plainly said, “Your instincts are too honed to stay out of it, Mable,” and a smirk crossed his face. “I know you too well to believe you aren’t keeping the people you love safe.” Mable’s ears drooped a little. “How are you doing it?”

Mable took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. A hint of a tear built up in her eye. “My uncle has a security system in his yard. I just keep an eye on it to make sure nothing funny is going on.”

That was a little less extreme than Des had been expecting, but that just made him smile. Even in retirement, Mable knew to still have some restraint. “Anything stand out?”

Mable shook her head as the waitress came back and placed Des’s tea down for him. “They look happy. At least my aunt and uncle. Can’t tell what that thing is thinking or feeling with no expression.”

“She, not thing,” Des chided. “Just because someone doesn’t show facial expressions doesn’t mean you can’t get a read on them.” Avalyn was quite expressive in her slight body movements, though Des had to admit some of them were a little hard to understand. Then again, he had never met a Vysven before Avalyn, which meant he had a whole new species’ style of emotes to understand. On top of that, Avalyn couldn’t fully emote like what he imagined her mother could. “You’re better than letting something like that stop you.”

A small pout crossed Mable’s muzzle. “She looks happy, I guess. At least I don’t see anything that shows anything is wrong or that she’s upset.”

Des nodded before taking a small sip of his tea. “She seemed pretty happy in general to me. Though people treating her like an automaton really frustrates her. I know there is definitely some anger in there, but I think the sadness it brings out in her outweighs that.”

One of Mable’s eyebrows lifted up. “You’ve been watching her too?”

Des smirked. “Nope. I spent some time with her before meeting you.”

Both of Mable’s ears shot up. “What? You went to see her before meeting me?”

Shaking his head, Des said, “She ended up being on the same bus I was taking. I, admittedly in my slight state of duress from my shuttle sickness, tried to shut her down to take the seat.” He didn’t hide the shame he felt in having taken those actions. “She still got up and gave me the seat, saying she doesn’t have feet that get sore anymore.”

“Were my uncle and aunt there?” Des nodded. “What did they say?”

“Vestan said her body was a medical device, and that she was in an accident.”

“So now it’s got him lying for it…”

“She, Mable, and maybe not. From my understanding, regents are meant to have more organic looking bodies. At least that was true of the last one we met. The Vysven ship that was transporting her before she was born crashed, so maybe her original intended body was destroyed in it. Either way, the automaton she uses as a body now is the same as a cybernetic limp people consider being part of their own body.”

Mabel sank lower in her seat and quietly mumbled, “I’m hungry.” Letting out a sigh, she then asked, “Then what happened?”

“She tried to get off with her Vestan and Scevi, but the crowd wouldn’t let her off, thinking she was just an automaton. Then even went so far as to berate her at the perfect time to cut off hearing where Vestan told her to meet them.”

“Let me guess, you then started up a friendly conversation?”

A smile crossed his lips. “You know me so well. I did, and I even helped her get in contact with Vestan. I even went so far as to help her find her way to them when we could finally get off the bus.”

“That’s why you took so long.” She sighed. “Alright, what did you think of her?”

He didn’t answer right away as he tried to sum up his opinion of Avalyn. “Friendly, and clearly in need of friends to help get her through people treating her like garbage. She might be fully grown, but she’s still really young and doesn’t really understand the galaxy around her. That being said, she is desperately trying to find things in it that feel familiar and make her happy, in hopes of gaining a sense of a normal life again. Really, she’s just like any wayward new species to the Alliance trying to find their way in our society, and it’s a real shame people automatically treat her so poorly. I think she might break from that at some point, but I’m not sure it will be a violent break. At least outwardly to others.”

There was a long silence between them as both thought about his words. Before either of them spoke, the waitress came back with their food. With pleasant smiles and hungry eyes, the pair thanked her before they were once again left alone. Des was the first to eat, and Mable took her time just staring at the food before picking up her utensils. The food was delicious.

“What kind of normalcy is she looking for?” Mable asked before taking a bite.

A genuine smile Des couldn’t hold in spread across his lips. “Today she is getting her own companion, and then she’s going to find a game store.”

With a mouth full of food, Mable said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She swallowed before speaking more. “You can’t just shove your hobbies on oth—”

“Let me stop you right there.” The smile on his face grew much larger. “Avalyn was the one who asked me if we had game stores in the Alliance. Then, to top it off, she asked about storytelling games and card games before I could even explain what games she could find here. She even asked for a list of recommendations for both. I even gave her my companion ID so I could send her a more thorough list of recommendations.”

Mable let out a massive sigh. “What have you done, Des?”

A chuckle escaped his lips. “Helped someone find a hobby they’re going to enjoy. What are you worried about? It’s not like she can cause too much trouble. Some books, some cards, and a companion aren’t going to harm the Alliance.”

~~~

“Any questions?” The store clerk asked as Avalyn finished commandeering her new companion.

“Actually, yeah,” she said, ever so slightly shifting her weight from foot to foot. The more she dove into the companion, the more worried she got. To not make this seem crazy that Avalyn could know this without doing anything, she started tapping away at the screen, pulling up different menus and quickly diving deeper into the mechanics of the device. Of course her fingers didn’t actually work with the screen, but since she had commandeered the display, she could fake it. “Why is there deeply integrated spyware on here?” Part of her just wanted to leave, but how could she not address there being spyware on her device?

The clerk opened their mouth with a confused look on their face. “What do you mean?”

“I count three separate hidden systems, all designed for monitoring the devices’ usage.” One by one she started deleting the applications from her companion. “I read the entire terms and conditions, and there wasn’t a stipulation or clause involving a single one of these programs. While deeply integrated they aren’t integral to the operation of the device and according to section 234, subsection 18, clause B, line 6 of the Alliance Corporations Communications Surveillance Deterrence Act, as referenced in the terms and conditions, I have the right to delete it all off my companion.” While Avalyn preferred to continue reading the way she did in the simulation, one word at a time, she had made an exception for terms and conditions. Instead, she just commandeered the device a little to examine the entire thing at once, nearly instantaneously.

“Avalyn,” Gramps said with quiet concern as a few other patrons of the store looked their way.

“What? It’s my device and I’m not letting some companion manufacturer watch everything I’m doing to gain data on me. I had enough of that before coming to the Alliance, and I’m not putting up with it anymore. Can we go now?”

“There’s spyware on our companions?” another customer asked an employee.

“No, Ma’am,” the employee said quickly.

“He’s lying to you or doesn’t know the truth,” Avalyn piped up, finally putting her companion in her pocket. “I’m done. Let’s go.”

“Avalyn, you can’t just say stuff like that,” Gramps said.

“I’m just telling the truth,” Avalyn said, defiantly putting her hands on her hips. “Want me to delete all of it off your companions as well, or would you rather they keep tracking every single thing you use it for?” A silence hung over the entire store.

“You sound like a conspiracy theorist,” Scevi said plainly.

“Do you not believe me?”

Scevi pursed her lips, then quickly pulled out her companion and handed it over to Avalyn. “Don’t look at my—”

“I’m not going to look at what porn you and Gramps like to watch,” Avalyn said, instantly turning Gramps’ face bright red.

A large, burly looking man, of a species Avalyn did not recognize, wearing a too-tight shirt with a logo of the companion manufacturer over his breast, walked up to them and said. “You need to leave.”

“Finally,” Avalyn said with relief as she started walking away. It was easy to commandeer just enough of Scevi’s companion to delete the spyware.

“Avalyn!” Gramps said as he and Scevi quickly followed behind.

“What? He said to leave, and I am. We’ve already paid, and they can’t track anything I do on my companion, so we’re done here. I lived in a society where everything you did on tech was tracked and then sold as data, and I have the ability to not live that way anymore.” The door to the shop slid open at their approach and closed quickly behind them. “My companion is part of my physical body, and I’m not letting someone track that,” Avalyn said just loud enough to be heard by Gramps and Scevi as she handed Scevi back her companion.

“That fast?” Scevi said with slight amazement.

“I took my sweet time commandeering my companion since I first tapped it when it came out,” the entire process had taken nearly half an hour, “so I have a very good understanding of it. I knew exactly what to do with yours with as minimal intrusion as possible.” She held out her hand to Gramps.

“Avalyn, what’s going on?” Gramps said, putting a hand on his hip while the other pulled out his companion and handed it to her.

“What do you mean?” she asked as she tapped the companion.

“Ever since your time with Des you’ve been sort of off and too direct. Anxious even. I’ve never seen you bounce from one foot to another before.”

A smirk appeared on Scevi’s face. “You got a little crush on him or something?”

“Ew! No! Ew. No. I’m just…” Avalyn sighed. She had to admit, looking back at her actions, she had been really anxious. “I’m just really excited to find an LGS,” she admitted in a quiet tone. “I don’t think I’ve been this excited in my life. My life in real life, not the simulation.”

“You’re excited?” Gramps asked with apparent confusion in his voice. “You looked more anxious than excited.”

“I’m anxious to get everything done so that I can get to the thing that excites me,” she explained. “Sometimes I can display emotions in ways that don’t match what people would perceive them to be. Maybe it’s just how my brain functions differently.” A thought occurred to Avalyn. “Maybe it’s how my Vysven instincts tell me to emote. I wonder if I had feathers and a crown, if my emotions would be clearer to people. Then again, maybe Vysven emoting can be different than modern societies.” There were some things that Avalyn knew Mama did that were the same, like smiling and crying, but there was still a plethora of emotions to explore.

There was a moment where Gramps looked as if he was about to say something, but he then clearly conceded the point. “Alright, kiddo. You done deleting that giff of my companion?” Avalyn nodded. “Then let’s go find a map and see about finding you one of those game stores.”