{"id":578,"date":"2024-07-27T06:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T10:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=578"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:38:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:38:22","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-50\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 50"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\ntt {\nfont: .857em menlo, monaco, consolas, monospace;\nmargin: auto;\n}\nh2 {\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh2.chapterhead {\nmargin-bottom: 2em;\ntext-align: center;\n}\n  .nowrap {\n    text-indent: 0;\n    display: inline-block;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Changeling Game <small>(Formerly <i>Identity Theft<\/i>)<\/small><br \/>\n<b>Author:<\/b> Ardath Rekha<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 50\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> <i>Pitch Black<\/i> (2000); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick<\/i> (2004); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> (2004)<br \/>\n<b>Rating:<\/b> M<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language, violence<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Gen<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> None<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> As Jack and Kyra seek out parting gifts for the <i>ait Meziane<\/i> tribe, Jack learns just how much of a kindred spirit one member of the family, in particular, is.<br \/>\n<b>Disclaimer:<\/b> The characters and events of <i>Pitch Black,<\/i> <i>The Chronicles of Riddick,<\/i> and <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> are not mine, but belong to Universal Studios.  I just <i>wish<\/i> I were in charge of their fates.  No money is being made off of this.  I\u2019m writing strictly for love of the story.<br \/>\n<b>Feedback:<\/b> Absolutely, the more the better!  Shred me, whip me, beat me, make me feel grammatical! I post \u201crough,\u201d so I can always use the help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6a8e733a35b213049165962' value='6a8e733a35b213049165962'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8e733a35b213049165962' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a8e733a35b213049165962' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8e733a35b213049165962' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Long post is long. Click to read the story.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6a8e733a35b213049165962' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">50.<br \/>\n<u>A Trickster God for a Call Sign<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe\u2019ll leave to choose the plants right after dinner,\u201d Tafrara said as they walked down to the dining room, \u201cand then we can plant them together after the overnoon sleep, before it\u2019s time to get ready for Zdan\u2019s send-off party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd Tizzy,\u201d Izil added, \u201ccan tell us the rest of the story while we\u2019re planting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack had advanced that story to partway through the canyon run, describing how everyone had let go of everything that wasn\u2019t absolutely essential to their escape offworld and how Riddick had rigged up a rope harness to drag the precious fuel cells himself. Jack\u2019s own backpack, along with the boomerang Paris had lent her, had been discarded along with most of the sled\u2019s contents. The plan had been simple enough: run like hell with all the light they could carry and nothing else to weigh them down.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Imam had insisted on praying with each of them ahead of the run, something that had left Jack feeling awkward and bewildered. Her family hadn\u2019t been especially religious, observing major holidays with a more secular zeal than anything else. The idea of closing her eyes and reaching out to an unseen and powerful entity had seemed weird to her\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u2026at least, it had until recently, when the <i>Apeiros<\/i> had reached out to <i>her<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They weren\u2019t gods. She knew that much already. They were powerful, but it wasn\u2019t <i>that<\/i> kind of power, and she had a sense that they would eschew any such labels.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But she had been left feeling off-kilter after Imam\u2019s prayers until he\u2019d walked off to find Riddick, and Fry had muttered \u201cwhatever\u201d under her breath\u2026 and then she\u2019d overheard Riddick mocking the cleric\u2019s beliefs. It had been a relief to know that she wasn\u2019t the <i>only<\/i> one struggling to connect with his attempts at bonding through prayer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It came as an even bigger relief when Ewan, chuckling, admitted that while his family was nominally Christian, they were every bit as secular as she\u2019d been raised. She was <i>very<\/i> glad that she hadn\u2019t given him\u2014or any of his family, really\u2014offense with her admission.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The start of the run itself had been frenetic and crazed, little to narrate beyond impressions and Riddick\u2019s periodic roars of \u201cMove!\u201d when they faltered. But then, above them, the monsters had begun battling in the air, blue blood raining down on them and bodies\u2014and body parts\u2014falling from the sky.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Takama came to the guest room door to summon them to dinner, and deliver Sebby\u2019s cricket box, right as Jack described reaching the collapsed pile of massive bones that Shazza had driven through. It was as good a place to break off as any.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Tafrara and Kyra were talking about gardening plans as they walked down the stairs together. Jack felt a sad pang move through her; in Kyra\u2019s dream, that was one of the only chores she\u2019d enjoyed doing in the New Christy Enclave. It struck Jack yet again what a perfect fit her sister was with this family, and how terribly unfair it was that she couldn\u2019t just <i>stay<\/i> with them. She wouldn\u2019t even be able to circle back to them until she\u2019d broken her trail, something that could take <i>years<\/i> to be sure of.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And what about <i>her?<\/i> Could <i>she<\/i> find a way back here as Audrey MacNamera?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Tangiers Prime, she thought, had several excellent universities. She could apply to one of them, maybe. Return as a college student with a completely plausible and unconnected reason for traveling to New Marrakesh and \u201cmeeting\u201d the <i>ait Meziane<\/i> tribe for the \u201cfirst time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It might work. She\u2019d have to look into which schools had programs that interested her. She couldn\u2019t do it if she couldn\u2019t make the choice to apply feel completely in character\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou seem suspiciously deep in thought,\u201d Ewan said beside her. \u201cShould I be worried?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She glanced up at him, catching a hint of a teasing smile\u2026 but also concern. \u201cI was thinking about when we might be able to break our trails and come back. What kinds of covers we might need to come up with, to make us showing up for a second time seem plausibly like a first arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019ll come up with something good,\u201d he said, his smile widening. \u201cWe will be standing by to meet you, for the <i>very first time ever<\/i>, when you do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">If she picked a University in New Marrakesh to attend, she thought, she might even be able to visit with the family frequently. She wondered where Ewan would end up based out of once his flight training was over, and how often he might be back at the house.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was tempting to ask, to try to make plans, but she didn\u2019t dare. It would be at least five years before she would be able to return. He might be married by then, or living on a base in another part of the system. General Toal had warned her that any long-term plans or promises would be red flags to people like Toombs, or to Operatives seeking her or Kyra. As much as she wanted to ask Ewan to wait for her\u2014a hazardous thing to articulate <i>anyway<\/i>\u2014she couldn\u2019t. Even if it didn\u2019t have the potential to draw dangerous attention to them\u2026 it would be cruel to him when she had no idea what might actually happen between that moment and an uncertain future that was years away.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She wished she could close her eyes and skip forward in time, but then she\u2019d still be just as young.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAre you all right with telling us your story like this?\u201d Ewan asked. \u201cI really should have asked this sooner, but after the way the last sections affected you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNo, it\u2019s good,\u201d Jack told him. \u201cIt\u2019s, uh\u2026 it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve been able to tell anybody other than Dihya about it. And it\u2019s the last chance I\u2019ll get to tell anyone, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan, pulling out a chair for her, blinked and then nodded. \u201cBecause after you leave here, you won\u2019t be able to admit to anyone that you were the girl who survived the <i>Hunter-Gratzner<\/i> crash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack nodded back as he pushed in her seat and took the one beside her. \u201cGotta speak now or forever hold my peace, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan\u2019s expression was sad. \u201cYou have so much pain attached to it. I worry it\u2019s going to be left unresolved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He and Kyra, and Tafrara and Izil, had tried so hard this morning-day to help her with it, but while they\u2019d given her a lot of things to think about, most of it hadn\u2019t really sunk in yet and she knew it. She understood what he was saying\u2014one conversation wasn\u2019t going to <i>do<\/i> it and yet that might be all she\u2019d ever get\u2014and she could feel his wish that <i>he<\/i> could sit with her, over time, as she worked through it all. It was another If-Only on the large pile that had formed, part of a life and future she desperately wished could be hers but could never claim without going far away from it first.\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMaybe one day,\u201d she told him once she was sure she could keep the wobble out of her voice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He nodded, looking as morose as she felt.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTell me about piloting,\u201d she asked him, wanting something brighter to talk about for a while. It was the right move.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan\u2019s eyes lit up as he described flying, both in air and in space, and the thrilling terror of launches and re-entries. A part of him came alive that she\u2019d never seen before, and she found herself falling for him all over again. He had completed almost all of his primary training, but the most demanding part\u2014advanced combat flight, both in atmosphere and in space\u2014was ahead of him and would begin a week after he returned to Qamar, once he was recertified as flight-ready and took a final test that had originally been scheduled for a few days after he received the news of his brother\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m behind the rest of my class right now,\u201d he said with a rueful smile. \u201cBut hopefully I won\u2019t stay that way. Fortunately, I won\u2019t have <i>two<\/i> weeks of catch-up to do. Just one. Everyone got a few days off after that test. I had originally been planning to meet up with my brother then.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The shadow of his grief flickered over him for a moment before he seemed to put it aside and focused on her again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c<i>Are<\/i> you ready for the test?\u201d Jack asked, feeling concern. As far as she knew, he hadn\u2019t been getting many opportunities to study and review things.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He grinned and nodded. \u201cYou\u2019re not the only eidetic at this table,\u201d he told her, winking.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cReally?\u201d Was that part of why the two of them had bonded so quickly? Within her own family, only one of her uncles had displayed that same kind of recall. Well, and maybe her dad, given how the only things he\u2019d claimed to have forgotten were always suspiciously convenient for him\u2014 \u201cWait, how\u2019d you know I am?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe way you narrated your story, especially if it\u2019s your first time telling a lot of it. Your wording and delivery is <i>exact.<\/i>\u201d He leaned closer, murmuring. \u201cI got the feeling that when Kyra was repeating some of \u2018your\u2019 lines, she wasn\u2019t being nearly as precise, and it was bothering you a little.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWow,\u201d she whispered back to him. \u201cYou can read me like a <i>book.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat are you two whispering about over there?\u201d Takama asked. Although her tone was mild and playful, there was something under it that\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Oh. <b>Oh.<\/b><\/i> They were still being chaperoned, and had gotten a little <i>too<\/i> close to each other for anybody\u2019s liking. Ewan gave her a rueful smile as he pulled back to a more acceptable distance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTizzy has been telling us the story of the crash of the <i>Hunter-Gratzner,<\/i>\u201d he answered his aunt. \u201cOne of the other survivors was planning on going to Earth to try to liberate artworks from the Louvre. I was saying that some of the things she\u2019s been doing here in the last week would have been great practice for that job.\u201d He winked at Jack from the eye his aunt couldn\u2019t see.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou see?\u201d Tafrara said, laughing. \u201cMy baby brother is pure <i>trouble.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">At least, Jack thought, everybody had stopped worrying\u2014for the moment, anyway\u2014that they were somehow going to do something scandalous at the dinner table.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">In five years, nobody would care if they invaded each other\u2019s space that way, whether innocently or less so. What a moment to have to put the two of them on the spot, though, forcing Ewan to lie to avoid possibly hurting Kyra\u2019s feelings, just out of a worry that the two of them might be\u2026 what, exactly? Plotting an overnoon fling in the broad daylight?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They kept a more seemly distance from each other for the rest of the meal. Kyra and Tafrara were deep in a discussion about adapting Earth plants to the growing cycle of a world with 44-hour days and 32-month-long years. Jack could feel her sister\u2019s fascination, her desire to soak up all the information and personally explore it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Damn you, Alexander Toombs,<\/i> she thought. Kyra, at least, might have been able to stay if he hadn\u2019t spent so much time and effort painting a bullseye on her. Maybe to become a soldier, or maybe to finally get to rekindle the love of learning that had been brutally quelled by her father and New Christy, and get a degree in something like xenobotany\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d Ewan murmured.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack looked over at him, glancing Kyra\u2019s way again. \u201cShe\u2019s so happy here,\u201d she murmured back. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know if she even <i>has<\/i> somewhere else to go\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Understanding and empathy sparked in his eyes\u2026 and worry. \u201cBut you do, yes? You\u2019re not just\u2026 throwing yourself out into the darkness?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She nodded. Of <i>course<\/i> he\u2019d have the same concern about her. \u201cI have relatives waiting for me. I just have to reach them in a way that makes it look like I never tried to take the <i>Hunter-Gratzner<\/i> as part of my itinerary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Some tension left his body when she said that. \u201cAnd you\u2019ll be able to?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah,\u201d she told him, feeling her lips quirk up into a smile that would have stirred an <i>uh oh<\/i> or an <i>I know that look<\/i> from Kyra. \u201cI have a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It might take most of the resources she would earn from flying the <i>Nephrite Undine<\/i> to Deckard\u2019s World. Possibly even all of them\u2026 but she knew how to get more if she needed to. General Toal had put the idea in her head.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i> Many years ago, I heard the story of a young woman who had been a witness to a terrible crime and was placed in protective custody until she could testify against its perpetrators. She was hidden away, and only allowed periodic, controlled contact with her family, through elaborate channels designed to keep anyone from tracing her whereabouts\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">What if the witness had been a kid, and her handlers had been far too worried about her being indiscreet to let her have contact with her family at all? What if any sign that her family even knew she was safe somewhere could have tipped off the people she was hiding from? And what if, even after she had given her testimony and she was allowed to return home, the threat of potential reprisals was so great that she still wasn\u2019t permitted to tell anyone where she had been or why? Deckard\u2019s World\u2019s law enforcement community used enough of her father\u2019s security protocols that she was pretty sure she could make it look like that was what had happened to her, and like only someone with a much higher level of clearance\u2014Federacy level, maybe someone of a similar rank to General Toal himself\u2014could access information about where she had been.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was a project she planned to work on while she was traveling back to Deckard\u2019s World: creating the scenario, making sure there were no holes in the public side of it, and building a hidden side that would allow her to maintain and defend the story against any and all scrutiny\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI can see you <i>do<\/i> have a plan. One day, I hope you can tell me all about it.\u201d Now <i>Ewan\u2019s<\/i> voice was wistful.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She wanted to promise him that she would, but she knew she couldn\u2019t. General Toal had been clear. No plans, no promises. Nothing that could be used against them or turned into a lie.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow\u2019d you switch from being pre-med to being a military officer in the flight academy?\u201d she asked instead, genuinely curious. She knew the story of her father\u2019s path into the Corps of Engineers already, and couldn\u2019t figure out where Ewan would have found the time to fit in both and still only be twenty-two.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAh!\u201d He smiled, his expression clearing. \u201cYes. Things work a little differently from one part of the Federacy to another.  While we do have \u2018Military Academies\u2019 here, the founders of this world were concerned about\u2026 well, back on Earth, there had been so many military coups at different points in history. They feared the development of a culture, within the armed forces, that was too disconnected from the rest of the populace to understand and prioritize its needs. So while yes, I did get shipped off to a Military Academy when I was sixteen\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTo keep you out of trouble,\u201d Tafrara interjected from across the table.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan nodded, wincing and smiling simultaneously. \u201cI was quite the bad seed back then, yes. Even so, I was expected to attend a normal four-year University, with civilians, and to complete much of my combat training with a mixture of both officer candidates and normal enlistees. To ensure that I would always be connected to and bonded with more people than just other officers. I wasn\u2019t sure, for a long time, whether I wanted to be a combat medic or a fighter pilot. And until I turned twenty-one, there was a restraining order keeping me from flying\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cA <i>what?<\/i>\u201d Jack stared at him in amazement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOn his sixteenth birthday,\u201d Cedric chuckled from further down the table, \u201che and some friends sneaked onto an airfield that was hosting a large air show. He\u2019d somehow memorized the controls for the replica F-14 Tomcats that were flying in the show, and took one on a two-hour joyride. Enrolling him in the Military Academy was part of the plea deal that would let him ever fly again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFortunately, the Tomcat <i>was<\/i> undamaged when he landed,\u201d Safiyya sighed. \u201cI had the feeling that half of the visiting brass wanted an excuse to <i>confiscate<\/i> him from us and <i>keep<\/i> him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra looked like she was ready to burst with repressed laughter. <i>You two really are perfect for each other.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It sure as hell explained why he hadn\u2019t hesitated, even for a second, when she\u2019d dragooned him into the morgue heist. Some of the stories people had told about his older brother at the memorial had been fairly similar, if a little less felonious.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan was blushing. \u201cYes, I\u2026 really was a lot of trouble back then.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBack then?\u201d Tafrara laughed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI wasn\u2019t allowed within a half-kilometer of <i>any<\/i> aircraft or spacecraft,\u201d Ewan continued, still blushing and shaking his head. \u201cFor five years, I had to watch all of the airshows from the roof here. I couldn\u2019t enter the spaceport, or travel anywhere that required boarding a plane, shuttle, or starship. Which meant a lot of vacations in the New Atlas range.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOr biking around with that crazy health inspector friend of yours,\u201d Izil snickered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan\u2019s blush had, improbably, deepened. \u201cBut it also meant that I couldn\u2019t study more than the theoretical classroom aspects of being a pilot until last year. So I focused on a pre-med track for a while, which both Usadden and my \u2018crazy health inspector friend\u2019 were thrilled about\u2026 and worked for the UMA as a paramedic, for field experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhich is how you <i>met<\/i> Robie in the first place,\u201d Usadden laughed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack had a feeling she\u2019d better not ask how wild the rides they\u2019d gone on had <i>gotten<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOn Ewan\u2019s twenty-first birthday,\u201d Cedric picked up the tale, \u201cGavin had recovered enough from \u2019Enza that his <i>civilian<\/i> pilot\u2019s license had been reinstated, so the first thing he did that day was take his baby brother flying. They were gone most of the morning-day, and when they got back, we could all tell that Ewan was <i>never<\/i> going to become a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI resigned from the UMA and spent every waking minute playing catch-up so I could qualify for the flight academy when I graduated. I just <i>barely<\/i> squeezed my way in, too.\u201d Ewan said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cProving that you have plenty of discipline when you wish to,\u201d Takama teased him in her dryest voice, but her eyes were sparkling with amusement and pride.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt did help that Gavin had been top of his class when <i>he<\/i> passed through the flight academy,\u201d Cedric said. \u201cAnd that Ewan\u2019s joyride in the Tomcat had been talked about for <i>years<\/i> among the staff. They threatened to give him the call sign \u2018Maverick.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFortunately, that one was already taken,\u201d Ewan said, smiling.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat <i>is<\/i> your call sign?\u201d Jack asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His smile widened into a grin. \u201cLoki.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe Norse trickster god?\u201d She found herself grinning back at him. He actually resembled one of the first actors to play the character in centuries-old movies, if darker-complected. \u201cI like it. It suits you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cA little <i>too<\/i> well at times,\u201d Tafrara laughed. \u201cCome, we should wash up and go to the plant nursery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It ended up being a family excursion, almost everyone accompanying them. The plans for the following morning-day were evolving in unexpected ways: Tafrara and Izil both wanted to accompany them to Elsewhere when they tried to return Sebby, and had already expressed that wish. Now Usadden, who had that morning-day off, wanted to join them as well. Takama, Cedric, and Safiyya were discussing whether they should come, too. It might be, Jack realized, everyone\u2019s first and last chance to see what New Marrakesh looked like in an alternate universe.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cPlus, you\u2019ll need extra hands to help with the olive trees and the planting equipment,\u201d Tafrara told them. \u201cEspecially if you\u2019re traveling uphill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan, shoulder to shoulder with Jack in the back seat of the same rugged all-terrain vehicle Jack had dreamed about overnight, sounded wistful again. \u201cI wish I could come with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI wish you could, too,\u201d Jack told him back, leaning her head against his shoulder. She suddenly wondered if he meant another trip into Elsewhere, or her trip home\u2026 and which one <i>she<\/i> meant.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Of course, she could no more take home a 22-year-old fighter pilot with a trickster god for a call sign than she could take home the Black Fox of Canaan Mountain\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Proof, she thought, that the universe had a bent toward the cruel.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">By the time they reached the nursery, though, it had been decided: \u201cTizzy\u201d and \u201cDihya\u201d would be accompanied into Elsewhere by almost the whole family, who would help them plant olive trees for Sebby if he could be successfully released. They would take at least a pair of young trees that were already capable of fruiting, so that the little crustacean wouldn\u2019t have to wait long for treats. While Takama took charge of discussing the trees with the nursery owner, Kyra and Tafrara split off to find a suitable courtyard plant\u2026 and Jack found herself walking with Ewan through another part of its gardens, looking at flowering shrubs. They still weren\u2019t alone, but for the moment, it almost felt like they were.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo you have anything specific in mind for your plant?\u201d Ewan asked her as she looked over a selection of bushes that she knew had come from other parts of old Earth than Morocco.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m not sure yet,\u201d she told him. \u201cSomething that smells nice, I think. And\u2026 I don\u2019t know, something that, if we\u2019d all been born in actual Marrakesh back on Earth, might have been native.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cA desert or steppe plant, then,\u201d Ewan told her. He grinned at her look of surprise. \u201cOld Marrakesh was much further inland than New Marrakesh is. In fact, our latitude and longitude correspond more with old Casablanca on Earth\u2026 but \u2018New Casablanca\u2019 was already taken by the first settlement here, even though it\u2019s much further north and east. The original Marrakesh, though, was hot and dry. It was closer to the old Atlas Mountains than Casablanca, and the New Atlas Mountains are practically on top of us, so maybe that\u2019s why they chose the name. Let\u2019s see\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He looked around the nursery, and then nodded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI see some of the plants that came from arid parts of Morocco on Earth. Shall we?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack let him lead her to another part of the nursery, where the plants were\u2026 well\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A little disappointing. They weren\u2019t at all lush, looking scrubby and spindly instead.\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIn the dry climate of the desert,\u201d Ewan told her, in response to the crestfallen expression she hadn\u2019t been able to keep off her face, \u201ca large, broad leaf is a bad idea most of the time. It would dry out too quickly, and with as much sun as deserts tend to get, light collection is easy enough with a small leaf or even just a stem. But if you\u2019d like, we could look at something else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But that was when the sweet scent of \u2026<i>something<\/i>\u2026 reached Jack\u2019s nose and captivated her. She\u2019d never smelled a perfume quite like it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It took her a moment to locate the scent and discover the tiny white blossoms scattered throughout a bush that looked like a living, green broom. Each flower was smaller than her fingernail. She bent closer to get a better look. Tiny, five-petaled, white with a broad green stripe running down the center of each petal, each miniscule anther and stamen tipped with fuchsia, they smelled heavenly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat is this?\u201d she asked, looking to see if it had a label.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c<i>Calligonum comosum<\/i>,\u201d Tafrara said as she and Kyra approached. \u201cThe fire bush.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra was carrying a small potted tree\u2014a fig tree, with a little fruit already growing on it\u2014in the crook of one arm.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe fire bush?\u201d Jack asked. \u201cWhy\u2019s it called that? Does it start fires?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Tafrara chuckled. \u201cNo, it\u2019s named after these,\u201d she said, gesturing to another bush beside the one Jack was examining. It had the same physical structure, but instead of white blossoms, it had clusters of branching, brilliant scarlet tendrils, each cluster bristling around a small fruit. They almost looked like tiny coral reefs. \u201cThe white flowers give way to fruits that mature to look like these. Once the fruits appear, a dune covered in these bushes can almost look like it\u2019s on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack realized that there were several fire bushes surrounding the one she\u2019d been looking at, all apparently further into their \u201cseasons\u201d than the one she\u2019d spotted. The tiny white flowers were only present on the one bush. \u201cThey\u2019re beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDead useful, too,\u201d Ewan commented. \u201cThey\u2019re popular for sand dune stabilization, feeding livestock, and in medicine. They\u2019re used a <i>lot<\/i> in folk medicine, and compounds from several parts of the plant are in prescription meds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWow.\u201d Jack touched the plant carefully. \u201cIs this something we can plant in the courtyard?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes,\u201d Tafrara said, \u201cbut an even better location for it might be on the rooftop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat about the taproot?\u201d Ewan asked her. \u201cI\u2019ve read that it\u2019s very long.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI have a spot in mind for that,\u201d Tafrara said with a smile. \u201cRemember the chimney opening we had to cover when you were Tizzy\u2019s age? After the <i>incident?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan\u2019s own smile had gotten huge. \u201cYou want to fill it with sand? We\u2019re going to need a lot of sand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot so much as all that,\u201d Tafrara said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also right by the place where you loved to sit and watch the air shows. A perfect location.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat was the <i>incident?\u201d<\/i> Jack asked, once she was sure neither of them had anything more to add.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRemember when you asked what happened when a burglar gained access to the house via the roof?\u201d Ewan asked her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Uh oh.<\/i> \u201cYes\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe tried to enter through a large chimney that hadn\u2019t been used in years. The fireplace it led to had been bricked up before I was even born.\u201d Ewan was <i>trying<\/i> to tell the story with a straight face, but his lips kept twitching toward a smile. \u201cHe <i>survived,<\/i> but just barely. I think he spent two days trapped inside before we realized he was there and broke open the fireplace to get him out. And then had it rebricked immediately, and made sure the news reports included how close he\u2019d come to dying from his burglary attempt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe chimney <i>had<\/i> been capped, of course, to keep birds from entering,\u201d Tafrara added. \u201cHe had removed the caps. So we covered it\u2026 but it would be perfect for a long taproot, and could be the centerpiece for an area featuring desert plants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd filling it with sand would definitely ensure that no one ever tries the same stupid stunt once everyone\u2019s forgotten about that last attempt,\u201d Cedric said, joining them. \u201cI\u2019ll go order the sand now. I think we can have it ready for us, and waiting on the roof, before we wake up from the overnoon sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWow,\u201d Jack said, impressed. \u201cThat fast?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI know a bloke.\u201d Cedric winked and walked away, taking his comm out of his pocket.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Picking up the bush that still had the white flowers, Jack closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and smiled. This scent, she thought, would always remind her of New Marrakesh. She wondered if anyone made a perfume with it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Once everything had been paid for, Jack and Kyra loaded their plants into the back of the large vehicle they\u2019d come in. Four olive trees already sat in the bed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFour?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOne from you, one from Dihya, and two from us,\u201d Safiyya explained. \u201cSebby\u2019s quite captured our hearts, too, after all. Now, I\u2019m up almost past my bedtime, so we should head home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The heat was getting intense, and Jack realized that she was feeling sleepy as well. The roads were almost deserted as they drove back to the <i>ait Meziane<\/i> house. Once they were back in the garage, Cedric instructed them to leave the plants where they were for the moment, as it was time for everyone to get ready for bed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan walked by her side as they went upstairs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt occurs to me that you and Dihya both chose plants that are reflections of yourselves,\u201d he commented.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes. Do you know how fig trees fruit?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack shook her head.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThey never appear to flower. Instead, they produce a round structure called a syconium. All of the flowers are hidden inside. A small wasp crawls inside the syconium to lay her eggs and pollinates the hidden flowers. Her children are born inside the fig and help it ripen, and then they depart, carrying its pollen to other syconia, while their former home matures into the \u2018fruit\u2019 we eat.\u201d He quirked one eyebrow at her. \u201cThere is no fruit without the wasp.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It <i>was<\/i> Jack thought, a good, if complicated, metaphor for Kyra.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was at her door; Kyra was already moving around inside their room. Ewan kept walking toward his own room. Tafrara, ahead of him, had turned to look back, still acting as a chaperone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cEwan?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He had reached his door and turned to look at her, for an instant seeming surprised that she was no longer beside him. \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat about me? What does the fire bush symbolize?\u201d <i>Aside from being spindly and the youngest in its group\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He hesitated for a moment before answering. \u201cEasily underestimated\u2026 but a treasure beyond all reckoning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack couldn\u2019t find a single thing to say in response to that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSleep well, Tizzy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 50\/? Fandom: Pitch Black (2000); The Chronicles of Riddick (2004); The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) Rat","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cThe Changeling Game\u201d 50: \u201cA Trickster God for a Call Sign\u201d","bgseo_description":"As Jack and Kyra seek out parting gifts for the ait Meziane tribe, Jack learns just how much of a kindred spirit one member of the family, in particular, is.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-changeling-game"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1169,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions\/1169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}