Molly Fyde and the Land of Light

The Drenard hesitated, giving Cole a serious appraisal. Then he gingerly removed the band and handed it over as if it were encrusted with precious jewels.

Cole helped Edison put it on.

“Can you hear me, buddy?” he thought.

“Clearly.”

“Say something else.”

“What do you want me to say?”

Cole gave Molly a thumbs up and a big smile.

“What is this about you marrying Anlyn? Who’s Bodi?”

“Bodi is Anlyn’s fiance. But she doesn’t want to marry him. She wants to marry me.”

“And you want to marry her?” Cole had no idea their relationship was that serious. He glanced at Molly and thought about how many years they’d known each other, the hundreds of hours in the simulator and the crazy few weeks they’d just had together. Despite all that, he’d only told her how he felt after being frightened that he’d never again get the chance.

“Yes. She and I understand each other.”

Cole laughed. He found that hard to believe.

Edison went on: “The only way I could do this was to outrank her fiance, who had laid claim to her.”

“So you went and tried to get yourself killed?”

Cole glanced over to Molly, her forehead lined with creases. “He almost killed himself over a girl,” he told her.

“My auditory functions are still operational,” Edison said, smiling.

“And who are you to judge?” Molly asked Cole.

“That’s not the same thing, you keep saving my butt, so I—”

“It’s okay. Just let me know when you boys get to something important. Like whether or not it’s safe for me to have my back to the door.”

Cole shook his head and focused his thoughts for Edison: “Pretend we’re talking about something else—I just… I need to know why you felt like you had to do this. Why you didn’t come to me for help.”

“I’m sorry. I never thought you’d end up out here. And I didn’t know it’d be this dangerous, either. Somehow, Bodi found out what we were up to… maybe Anlyn and I shouldn’t have been talking aloud about this when we thought we were alone. I didn’t even know that was Bodi with us until Molly told me.”

Edison scratched at the bandage on his forearm.

“The problem was, nobody knew precisely how big Bodi’s Wadi measured. Those things aren’t public record. But knowing the position he was given, Anlyn told me it’d be about my size. So I needed one bigger.”

“Why? What does that change?”

Edison broke into a huge smile, flashing his large, square teeth at Cole. “If I outrank him, I can claim Anlyn for my wife.”

“And you really think you love her?”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to say. But she wouldn’t come back to Drenard unless we tried. It was the only way she would return. And we needed a safe place to go—”

“You did this for us, as well?”

“No. No. I do like Anlyn. I think I’m in love with her.” His smile faded, his brow drooping. “And it’s not like I’m gonna meet any nice female Glemots, is it?”

The reference to his race’s genocide, an occurrence in which Cole and Molly unwittingly played a huge part, stung. But so did the idea that Edison would take this risk to help them without consulting them first.

Dani waved to get Cole’s attention; he rocked nervously from one foot to the other.

Cole patted Edison’s shoulder. “Thanks, pal,” he said out loud.

••••

Dani took his band back eagerly and affixed it to his head.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“I think Anlyn’s jealous boyfriend nearly got us all killed.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to explain. When I found out what was going on, I enlisted the help of three Circle members and the other Questioners and brought them straight here. Two of them are Anlyn’s uncles. We can trust them. When we left, we didn’t even know if your friend would be found at the time, but we wanted to look at the Wadis and settle these issues immediately.”

“Issues? What’s there to figure out besides weighing the damn things, or measuring them, and telling Bodi to back off?”

Dani shifted his weight around. His eyes darted to Molly for a second. “There is also her Wadi to consider.”

Cole looked at Molly. “Hers?”

“Yes. The Wadi she brought back is alive, docile, and… Well, we believe she is a juvenile that has never taken a mate, never reproduced. This, and the fact that she’s much older than a baby, but not quite an adult, The Circle will take as a great sign. A momentous occasion. Especially since the discoverer is human.” He looked at Molly again, his eyes flashing. “And now a Drenard.”

Cole turned to stare at her as well. Perplexed. He furrowed his brow… hard. One of the bandages on his head tore free.

“What?” Molly asked.

“Your Wadi is alive,” he said, pressing the tape back in place. “I think that means something to them.”

“Alive? But I thought—” her voice trailed off into thought.

Cole wished he could listen in.

He turned back to Dani. “This is a good thing, though, right?”

“Possibly. In some ways. All of you are going to be considered Drenards, and what happened here will become a legend one day, I am certain of that. But… I can’t imagine they will let her off the planet now. She will mean too much to too many people.”

“Are you kidding?” It was a deep but powerful thought. Cole groaned aloud.

“What is it?” Molly asked.

“We might be stuck here, even after all that work.”

18

The Drenard officials cobbled together an impromptu ceremony in the rarely used shelter. Normally, such an occasion called for banners, custom tunics, and symbolic lances too long for practical use, but Dani had agreed to force the issue and try to get them off-planet before Molly became a cause celebre.

They gave the four friends fresh tunics to wear, signifying their status as Drenards and their place within the culture. Each was unique, thrown together from borrowed layers of material from the officials.

Naturally, they had to take turns agreeing with Walter that his was by far the most important-looking in order to settle him down.

“Befitting a supply officer,” Molly managed to tell him with a straight face.

The four friends knelt in a line while lances were passed around and alien words were spoken. Not a moment of the ordeal made sense to Molly, but she didn’t mind. Her focus was on getting off that planet, and she wasn’t yet sure she should feel proud to be a Drenard.

After a round of deep bows from the officials, directed at the young foursome, a second ceremony began.