‘Taken?’
‘Just like Ur’ntu was.’
‘Why? Did she know something?’
This wasn’t a simple run-away case, then, nor just a young woman out doing some partying. This woman really was in trouble. This meant, sadly, that I needed to take this job a whole load more seriously.
There was a longer pause this time, even Te’rnu initially being loath to answer.
‘She…,’ Te’rnu began, ‘She said she saw the face of an Iyr.’
I had a sense that if the Arellians didn’t possess such a naturally blue skin tone, they would have gone white at this point. Fear was plastered all over their faces.
‘Why is that such a big deal?’ I asked. ‘I know they’re quite shy about it, but…’
‘No, you don’t understand,’ Te’rnu told me. ‘Nobody outside of their own race has ever seen the Iyr’s true face.’
‘Well, what did she see?’ I asked. ‘That got her so scared?’
Te’rnu shook his head. ‘We do not know. She was too afraid to talk about it.’
‘They were afraid, yes,’ a younger Arellian interrupted, ‘But they didn’t say that was the reason they didn’t tell us. They said they didn’t think we would want to know.’
‘I wanted to,’ Te’rnu insisted.
‘But she didn’t tell you?’ I asked.
‘No,’ he replied.
‘They said it was in our best interest,’ the young Arellian confirmed.
‘What could she have seen, Te’rnu? You must have some idea. Maybe Ur’tnu said something?’
‘The Elders say we shouldn’t speak of Ur’tnu,’ the youth continued.
‘Well, don’t tell them, then, Pr’atu,’ Te’rnu responded, like a teenager dealing with a nagging younger sibling.
Pr’atu took Te’rnu’s point - and went quiet.
‘Ur’tnu didn’t say anything about this, no,’ Te’rnu continued, ‘But that doesn’t mean to say it’s not related.’
I said nothing for a moment, instead trying to work out our next move.
‘If I didn’t think it could cost me my life, or at least my freedom, I’d say my best chance of finding Melonaitopila would be to get a look at an Iyr for myself.’
The group remained silent, but I could see a sparkle of excitement in Te’rnu’s eyes.
I soon fell back into the rhythm of being interrogated by the Arellians about my past life. It was less passionate, now, with the locals starting to tire, and before long it was just Te’rnu and me by the pile of ash that had, a few hours earlier, been a fire.
Te’rnu had become tense, and I could tell there was something he was hoping to ask me.
‘What is it, mate?’ I asked.
Now that he felt he had permission to say it, Te’rnu blurted, ‘Should you ever see the skin of an Iyr, would you come back, here, and tell me? I would like to know… before I die.’
Cautiously, I nodded. ‘OK, Te’rnu. I can do that. But…’
I was feeling like misbehaving; it had been almost a day since I had done anything wicked.
‘We could always go take a look for ourselves, now, if you’re up for a little spot of mischief?’
Te’rnu looked at me with those wide, wary eyes. ‘…How would we do that?’
‘Is there anywhere we might get an Iyr alone? Force ‘em to give us a look?’ I asked, a plan already forming in my mind.
The Arellian thought about it, and then, nodding, said, ‘Yes. The outpost. There should only be one Iyr at night. Around now.’
‘They’re not exactly too worried about their security, are they?’ I asked.
Te’rnu shook his head. ‘Why would they be? They have beaten us into submission.’
‘You’re up for a little act of revolution, then?’ I asked.
He looked at his feet. ‘I do not know if I should. If we got caught…’
I clapped my hand to his shoulder. ‘Come on, I thought you were Te’rnu - the only Arellian who breaks the rules! The only one too rebellious to be made an Elder!’
‘There is a limit, though. Sneaking into the stronghold is one thing, but… assaulting an Iyr? I don’t know if they would let me go if I did that.’
‘Then let’s not get caught!’ I replied.
He remained silent, still not convinced by my argument.
I continued. ‘Come on, we have a chance to change things for your people here. We can finish what Ur’ntu started. Maybe, then, you guys can have a better life here.’
Te’rnu thought about it some more, and then, nodding to himself ferociously as though psyching himself up, said, ‘OK. I will do it - on one condition. They will shoot me on site if I get too close to the outpost, so we must have a plan to stop that from happening.’
‘That’s not true, I went up there earlier. Took a rest in the shade of the building, and they didn’t shoot me.’
‘You are not an Arellian, though,’ Te’rnu responded.
‘I see,’ I replied, ‘Well, then, let’s use that to our advantage.’
There was a scuffling sound behind us. Te’rnu and I both spun our heads around to look for the source. Part of me imagined that it was an Iyr, here, somehow foiling our plan before it ever really began.
But, no, it wasn’t them. It was the young Arellian, Pr’atu, who had been outspoken about not repeating Ur’tnu’s conspiracies, earlier.
‘Pr’atu, what are you doing?’ Te’rnu asked.
‘How long you been there, buddy?’ I added. I didn’t trust the young’un to keep this plan to themself, and I sensed that we wouldn’t want the Elders to hear about it.
‘Oh, erm…,’ Pr’atu responded, ‘A little while… You are planning to look upon the Iyr’s flesh?’
Te’rnu and I looked at one another.
‘I mean, I wouldn’t describe it as “looking upon their flesh” because that’s a super creepy way to talk about it, but that’s the crux of it, yeah. You can keep this to yourself, though, can’t you, Pr’atu?’
‘I… erm… can I come with you?’ the youth replied.
‘Why would you want to do that?’ I asked.
‘I thought you didn’t believe in Ur’tnu’s theories,’ Te’rnu added.
‘It is not that I do not believe,’ Pr’atu replied, ‘Only that I do not want you getting in any more trouble with the Elders for talking
