|
Witness Do we disbelieve what we do not see with our eyes? Is it our sight
that truly makes us blind?
-JadeZephyr, Gelert
-3 days later-
Vai was bent over the kitchen sink, filling a kettle
with water. From the room adjacent to her, she could hear Keagn reading aloud
from the latest issue of Defenders of Neopia.
The Aisha's weird dialect had been difficult
to understand at first, but after a while Vai found it came to her naturally.
She did not question why; it was better to be content without knowing. Keagn
had fallen for Katanya the moment he had set eyes on her, immediately inventing
a pet name for her: Kitty. For hours at a time he would talk to her about things
no one else would listen to, like his day or favorite issues of "The Adventures
of Professor Chesterpot". Even though she didn't appear to understand him, Katanya
listened with rapt attention, hanging on to every word. Keagn had also made
it a point to introduce her to his one true love; his comic book collection.
The pair would now spend hours reading together, a Lupe and his new best friend.
However, there was something about the Aisha
that bothered Vai; unsettling her deep in her roots. The way she would appear
in the strangest places when she had been somewhere else only seconds before,
how she found objects that were far beyond her reach on high shelves. But Vai
tried to ignore it. After all, she was an alien.
Vai put the teakettle over the stove, and switched
on the gas. A thick sputtering sound came from the burner, and a puff of black
smoke crept out. Vai coughed, waving the smoke away. Grumbling, she unscrewed
the top of the gas burner and pulled out a gooey burned mess.
"Keagn! You put gum on the stove again!!"
"Did not!"
Vai didn't argue, she had a headache already.
She sighed, replaced the top of the burner, and moved the kettle onto the counter.
What was the point? She'd have to bring someone in to repair the stove now.
So, for the first time in days, Vai snuck into her garden for a moment of peace.
Now with the extra, very hungry mouth to feed,
Vai had even less time to spend in her garden. It wasn't big; she couldn't afford
big. But Vai worked beautifully with what she had, tending it every chance she
got, which was noticeably less often.
Whisper had given Vai and her brother enough
pocket money to cover the necessities; not the alien equivalent of a food processor.
The first day Katanya had been with them, she had eaten everything in the house,
kindly leaving Vai and Keagn some crumbs and a refrigerator bulb for dinner.
Vai had to resort to her vegetable patch for dinner now. She didn't want to,
but there wasn't much of a choice. The toddler could eat more pizza in one sitting
than 12 preteens at a slumber party, and for those of you that don't know, that's
a lot of pizza.
******
Katanya slid off the couch, and pranced into the kitchen. Keagn had fallen
asleep, and was too busy dreaming about chocolate dipped Chias to notice Katanya's
absence. The little Aisha opened the refrigerator, and was dismayed to find
it empty from her last raid. As she shut the door, Katanya spied a teacup on
the counter, and her face brightened. Teacups meant Borovan!
Katanya felt around the top of the counter (she
wasn't tall enough to see over the top) until her fingers wrapped around the
handle. She pulled it down, only to find it was filled with dark powder; the
Borovan hadn't been made yet.
She looked up again, and noticed the kettle,
still filled with water.
Water… hot water… Borovan!
Katanya squealed with happiness, and tried to
reach the kettle, but it was beyond her grasp. Katanya thought for a moment,
and then moved back. Concentrating hard, her eyes flashed…
The kettle quivered, and then moved by itself
off of the counter to hover in midair. As it drifted closer to the floor, Katanya
claimed her prize, and felt immediately that the water was cold. Still undeterred,
Katanya brushed one long finger across the edge…
******
Vai heard a high-pitched whistling coming from the kitchen. Muttering angrily,
Vai dropped her pruning shears on the grass and went to inspect.
The spotted Aisha entered the kitchen to see
the teakettle, red with heat, pouring boiling water into a cup from midair.
Katanya, who was sitting nearby, grabbed the cup when the kettle was emptied
and drained it in one swallow. She looked up to see Vai's shocked face, and
grinned.
"You… didn't… I… didn't just see… you… oh,"
Vai stuttered. She stumbled backwards, turned, and ran back into the garden.
Katanya was puzzled by her reaction, and followed her.
She found Vai banging her head against a tree,
muttering incomprehensibly. Katanya wandered over, and tugged on her apron.
Vai yelped, and fell backwards. "Oh, it's you!! Hello!" she said in an unnaturally
high voice.
Kitty sensed that Vai was distressed, so she
tried to remember what it was that made Vai happy. She looked around, noting
the bright garden…
"Jix ixsnu boorik ladaka. Ib foskip xaxa!"
Katanya traced a circle in the grass with one
finger, and then brought her hand up sharply.
A bright yellow sunflower shot up from the little
circle, and Katanya pointed proudly to it.
"Foskip xaxa," she announced.
Vai was silent, gaping at the miracle blossom
for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, she whispered, "Can all Alien Aishas
do that?"
Katanya cocked her head with a puzzled frown,
trying to work out Vai's words. Then, she shook her head.
Vai rubbed her forehead, massaging her pounding
temples. Gingerly, the Spotted Aisha stood up, skirting around the flower as
if it were a wild Reptillior. As she re-entered the house, she saw the discarded
kettle and cup still on the floor. Vai decided to let Keagn clean it up. Right
now, she didn't feel like doing much else besides going to her room and taking
a nice long nap.
******
Somewhere in the floating fortress of Virtupets Station, a burly Mutant Grundo
strode purposefully through carpeted hallways to a row of five tubes, leading
into the ceiling. Each of them was labeled for a different sector of Virtupets,
including the off-limits 558-24. He shoved a business envelope into the second
one on the right, and coded in a password. With a breathy hiss, the envelope
disappeared into the ceiling through the tube.
Moments later, in an off limits room somewhere
in VirtuPets, a mottled green hand grabbed the envelope and tore it open. Yellow
eyes scanned the paper quickly, and a cruel laugh split the silent air in sector
558-24…
******
Keagn woke up hours later, to find that his comics had been cleaned up, and
his snacks gone. Yawning groggily, he stepped outside to see if the cool night
air would give him the energy to get up the stairs and to his bedroom.
The sky was clear and beautiful, the moon a shining
crescent. Twinkling stars filled the canopy of the night, and the air was crisp
and fresh. Keagn looked dreamily up at the stars, and noticed a patch of five
that were bright red. When he blinked, they seemed to be a little closer than
before.
But that was impossible, he thought. Keagn
looked at his watch, and wasn't surprised to see it was past midnight. Perhaps
he was seeing things. He yawned again and walked back inside to collapse on
his bed and fall into a deep sleep.
To be continued...
| 
