The Dark Between The Stars

NINETY-TWO
PRINCE REYN

Ildirans instinctively kept time by the positions of multiple suns in the sky, but Reyn had to use a chronometer to tell him when it was time to sleep. With his worsening symptoms, he often became exhausted at inopportune times. On the other hand, the amazing sights and experiences in Mijistra gave him energy he hadn’t known he had. And he very much enjoyed Osira’h’s company.

She was a considerate and enthusiastic tour guide. When the Mage-Imperator suggested the names of others who could show him highlights of Ildiran culture, Reyn assured him that he preferred Osira’h’s company. Nira gave them such a warm and indulgent smile that Reyn felt embarrassed.

Now, when the Prince was well rested from a satisfying sleep, Osira’h said she had something important to show him. Laughing, she took him to one of the Prism Palace’s open landing decks where a long-range cutter waited. “I’m going to take you to one of the seven suns of Ildira. Durris-B.”

Reyn adjusted his protective filmgoggles. “I’m seeing too much sun as it is.”

“Not up close. And there’s something special about Durris-B. You’ll see.”

“I wouldn’t argue with my hostess.”

She led him aboard a cutter much too large for just the two of them, but Ildirans always liked to crowd too many aboard, so the combined thism would keep them from feeling isolated. Osira’h, though, was different in many ways, and when Reyn asked who else was going with them, she told him that his company would be enough.

With the Ildiran stardrive at full power, they arrived at the nearby star within two hours.

Durris was a trinary star system, a white and a yellow sun orbited by a red dwarf, and as Osira’h flew closer, the yellow sun filled the cutter’s view, blocking out its white and red companions. Durris-B swelled to become a sea of hot gases in front of them. With all shields on maximum and filters in place, Osira’h streaked forward as if she meant to plunge directly into the sun.

Reyn felt awed and more than a bit intimidated. “Aren’t we close enough?”

She shook her head. “You can’t see them yet.”

He spotted cells of roiling gases, plumes of solar flares, ethereal coronal discharges… and something else. Bright flashes darted about like embers in a breeze.

Osira’h glanced at him with her captivating eyes. “The faeros.”

Reyn tried to cover his instinctive shiver. He’d only been a baby when the faeros devastated the worldforest. His parents had barely escaped, whisking him to safety as the trees burned. “I don’t… have fond memories of the faeros.”

Osira’h remained at the controls but closed her eyes, as if she wanted to fly blind on purpose. “They’re neutralized—I helped neutralize them.” She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. “I can communicate, after a fashion.”

“Do they listen to you?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t tried to exert my powers over them for a long time—there’s been no need. Nothing to worry about.”

Prince Reyn did a brave thing and said, “In that case, I’ll trust you.”

She guided the cutter close to Durris-B, where thousands of faeros frolicked in the star layers, riding the arcs of flares. Several fireballs streaked past their ship as if they could sense Osira’h. Reyn followed them through the filtered windowports, amazed. Like an angry nest of buzzbeetles stirred up in the sunlight, faeros circled the cutter before diving back into Durris-B.

“I’ve never seen them this active before,” she said. “Something has riled them up.”

“I thought you could communicate with them.”

“I can send messages I want them to hear, but I don’t understand how they think. They are made of living, sentient fire—we don’t exactly have a common set of experiences.”

Another shudder went through him, searing pain along his nerve lines, like the fire bursting from the faeros. He winced, fighting back his reaction, which had nothing to do with the faeros.

Osira’h was deep in thought. “I wish I could understand what agitated them…”

She noticed his trembling, and her gaze locked on his arm, then traveled up to his drawn face. She stared at him, waiting, and he felt his walls breaking down. Reyn had told few people—his sister, Rlinda, some researchers—but as he sat close to Osira’h, who was so strange and beautiful and understanding, he had found another ally. A friend. That was one of the reasons he had come to Ildira in the first place.

“I need your help,” he said, and ignoring the inferno outside their shielded cutter, he told her about his mysterious disease. “No one knows how to cure it, and I was hoping an Ildiran physician might…” He couldn’t control his trembling now. “But I don’t want anyone else to know—not until I’m sure.”

Ignoring the faeros, Osira’h veered the cutter away, changed course, and raced back to Ildira. Several of the curious fireballs followed them for a time, flying in fiery loops, before they dropped back to the churning star.

“Our best medical kithmen will devote themselves to the challenge,” Osira’h said. “I’ll make sure of that.”

The medical kithmen found Reyn to be a perplexing problem.

After Osira’h made her request, the intense Ildiran doctors were completely dedicated to his case, convinced that if they found a cure then it would also honor the Mage-Imperator. They took samples and ran tests with diagnostic apparatus Reyn had never seen before. One of the doctors ran sensitive fingertips over his skin, as if he could telepathically pick up tiny flaws in Reyn’s DNA.

They were fascinated by the challenge, in part because it gave them an opportunity to learn more about human genetics. Unfortunately, although they were eager and curious, they could offer Reyn little hope beyond promising to find out all that they could about the mysterious disease.

He maintained his confidence, remembering what he had promised his sister, but Osira’h beseeched the researchers. “In the name of the Mage-Imperator, apply all your knowledge, all your imagination, all your skills to find a cure for this man.” Her eyes sparkled. “He is important to me.”

The doctors bowed. “We will do everything possible, with all the resources of our kith. If it is within our power, we will find a treatment.”

Reyn said, “Thank you.” And when Osira’h reached over and squeezed his hand, he felt even stronger.