Introduction
Hey guys and welcome back to Story Day!! I apologize for not getting that extra tag post out this week like I said I would – life picked up, I procrastinated too much, and things didn’t get done. However, having that pressure on me made me decide to not necessarily post on Wednesdays specifically, as those days can be rough for me to remember everything I’m supposed to be doing. XD So look for posts between the Monday and Saturday ones, on random days. 😉
Now that I’ve got that out of the way, on to the story!
Recap
Lasha and Calah are in the Worlden, investigating the worlds they’ve got to go to to find the Children of the Forbidden. One Child seems to be on the watery planet of Kantara… and she’s a pirate.
The Caretaker – Part 1.9
A laugh bubbled out of Calah’s mouth. A few shadowy shapes around them hissed, “SHHH!!”, causing Lasha’s ward to clap her hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she whispered through her fingers. “I’ve never met a real pirate before, though!”
Lasha took her hands from Kantara’s surface, glancing at her list again. “Chances are you will, on this trip. Next world… I’ll give you three clues. One” -she held up her thumb- “it’s in the Winter Realms. Two” -her index finger shot into the air- “it’s known for its rugged, frozen terrain. And three” -the trio of fingers was complete- “it has two Caretakers.”
“Um…” Calah cocked her head, dark eyes taking on a thoughtful look as she thought. “Anara, right?”
“Right.” Lasha hooked a finger, beckoning for her apprentice to follow her through the maze of stars and worlds and comets and meteors to the Winter Realms. “Now where is it?”
Without hesitation, Calah motioned to one of the planets orbiting vertically around the blazing scarlet star. Seventeen other planets orbited around it horizontally, diagonally, and vertically in a crazy array of a perfectly designed galaxy. Two of the planets were nearly touching as they skimmed past one another, less than an inch between them on the hologram.
Anara was whitish, with few clouds but a hazy atmosphere around it. It was farther from the sun than most of the worlds in the InterWorld, creating a landscape Lasha knew to be barren, cold, and nearly uninhabitable – were it not for the warm interior. Most of the Anarans lived underground in massive caverns so large one couldn’t see their end. It was a beautiful place, one Lasha loved dearly.
“Who are it’s Caretakers?”
“Ithran Dor, the second-in-command of all Leapers, and his apprentice-turned-secondary Caretaker…” Calah paused, thinking. “Uh… her last name is Merari, but I always forget her first.”
“Jerah,” Lasha supplied. “We might need to work on that – she’s an important woman in the Leaper community and her name is one you should know.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Hm.” Lasha squinted at her list. “Looks like there’s only one Child here, but her location isn’t listed. We might have to ask Jerah – Caretaker Merari, I mean – about her.” She shot a sideways glance at her apprentice, hoping her slip-up hadn’t been noticed. Calah had a tiny smile playing about the corners of her lips as she avoided eye-contact.
Nuts.
“It also looks like there’s at least one illegal Portal Stone hanging around here somewhere too,” Lasha continued, moving on. “We might as well investigate that while we’re there.”
“Why does it seem like the Children and the Portal Stones are always in the same spot?” Calah asked. “I mean, it’s not like the Children even know what they are – right?”
“Unfortunately, no. The Forbidden used the Portal Stones to escape the War of the Realms after they betrayed us, and a lot of those Stones were either lost or passed down to their children.”
“Oh. Hey, at least it’s easier for us?”
Lasha snorted. “A Leaper doesn’t judge missions by how difficult they are – just by how long they’ll take.”
Calah stayed silent.
“Looks like we only have two more planets – one in the Summer Realms and… interesting.”
“What?” Calah poked her head over Lasha’s shoulder, studying the list.
“At least one is on Illarian,” Lasha murmured. “Strange.”
“Why?”
Ignoring the question, Lasha ducked beneath the hologram Base and entered the Summer Realms. “This is one of our stops,” she said, poking a scarlet and blue planet with her finger and nudging it slightly out of orbit. It began to float back to place almost instantly.
Instantly a flood of emotions sparked in Calah’s dark eyes, glimmering with the light of the holograms. “Rendar,” she whispered. “Home.”
The word was said with such longing and hope that it nearly broke Lasha’s heart. She stiffened, looking at her list again to give herself time to get a hold of her face and slide her stoic Commander mask over it. “Yes,” she said, “but don’t get your hopes up, young lady. It’s unlikely at best that we’ll be anywhere near your family.”
She couldn’t tell Calah the truth – that her family had been relocated with their memories altered to keep Calah’s identity as a Leaper safe. Calah had been completely erased from their minds, and they had been lost in the endless records after being sent somewhere in the Winter Realm.
Calah would never see them again.
And she wasn’t strong enough – detached enough – to learn that yet.
Wrap Up
And there you have it!! Sorry for the length, but I thought it was a good stopping point so I went with it. 😛 What are your thoughts? Are the Leapers doing right with their protection of Calah and others? Is Lasha too gentle, or too rough, or something else? How old do you think Calah is? When in the worlds are they going to get out of Base and actually do something useful?!?!
Until the next post!
Take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth! 😉
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