Chapter 2: Developing Dizyntk

Things had gone smoothly over the past two months. Although he had been here longer than he had anticipated, Michael was pleased at how well the human colonists were settling in. This had been helped in no small part by Ariarisha's enthusiastic help with the human children. When she had gone to see the humans for the first time, Aria was ecstatic. It had taken all of her self control to sit still when Doctor Winston asked to examine her. He was quite amazed when his tests confirmed that Aria was, indeed, half-human. Afterwards Aria went to go see the human children. It took her all of one afternoon to get them over their collective unease around her. By the end of the first month she was regularly playing an Earth game called soccer with them. The rules had seemed simple enough and Aria quickly grasped them. Her natural athleticism had not hurt either. Michael was happy to see his daughter getting along so well with the kids. He felt bad that she would have to have her birthday here instead of on Sapphire. Aria did not seem to mind too much. She had known that this might happen when she asked to come with her father. He had received good news the previous day however.

As Michael turned to leave the field where Aria was playing he heard a voice from his past.

"Michael Christopher, I didn't believe it when I heard that name."

Michael turned slowly and looked at the person speaking to him. She was older than he remembered, obviously. Still, there was no mistaking Cynthia Rodgers. She still wore her brown hair in a short bob, though now there were some hints of grey in it. She still had the same fire behind her blue eyes, though now they seemed older and weary. She had been one of the other pilots in Michael's Courier squadron. They had been friends at the time. Sometimes they had been more than friends. She walked slowly towards him while confirming with her own eyes that he was the same person that had gone missing all those years ago. She reached him and slowly stroked her hand on his cheek. She then brought her hand back down and smiled at him.

"When I heard the name from the captain, and she said that you had been with the Dizyntk for fifteen years, I thought, no way it can be him." she said.

"Cynthia, I'm sorry that I didn't..." he started. Michael was not sure exactly what to say.

She looked down for a moment. "I am glad that you remember me, at least."

The two of them stood there for about a minute in awkward silence. Finally Michael broke the quiet.

"If I had had a way when I first crashed, you know I would have contacted you." he said.

Cynthia nodded. "I heard that you got shot down on an uninhabited planet."

Michael nodded in confirmation.

"You rescued a Dizyntk girl from a crashed dizyntk ship?" she asked

"Yes, I did." Michael answered.

How long were you there before the other Dizyntk found you?" she asked.

"Almost nine years." he replied.

Cynthia looked down again for several moments. Before looking to her left. She motioned with her head towards where the children were playing.

"Your daughter?" she inquired.

Michael looked as well. Aria was just then kicking the ball down the field. He smiled as he watched her.

"Yes, she is." he said.

"She looks older than six." Cynthia observed.

"You're right, she turned twelve today." Michael said. Cynthia smiled a bit. "I guess I can understand why you stayed then. She's lovely."

The two of them looked back at each other. Cynthia stepped forward quickly and hugged Michael tightly. He gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Cynthia, truly I am." he said softly.

She shook her head against his chest. "No, it's not your fault. You didn't mean to get shot down. You didn't mean to get stranded alone with a pretty alien for nine years. It just happened. I know that. I just missed you, I thought you were dead."

The two of them held each other for several minutes as Cynthia silently cried. Finally, she released him and stepped back while wiping her eyes.

She smiled at him and said, "What a sight I must make right now."

Michael nodded with a smile. "Yes, you do make quite the sight. What kind I'm not really sure."

She fought back a laugh and said, "Don't make me hit you."

The two old friends then broke down laughing.

After a minute Cynthia said, "Ok then, tell me all about her, this Dizyntk who claimed your heart."

The two of them sat on the ground next to each other. For the next hour, Michael told Cynthia all about what had happened to him on the planet he had been stranded on. All the while the two of them watched as the human children and Aria played.

At the end, Cynthia just smiled and said, "I can understand why you love her."

Michael looked at her and asked, "Would you like to meet her?"

She looked at him and asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Michael nodded. "You might be surprised. I think you might like her."

Cynthia looked back out to the field. "Not that, I mean do you think it's a good idea to introduce an old lover to your wife?"

Michael chuckled. "If she were human, I would say no that wouldn't be a good idea." Then he continued, "But she's Dizyntk, I think you might be surprised at how she reacts. They don't usually have a problem with things like that. They understand that you may have had lovers before you bonded. They even accept that you will probably still be friends with those people."

Cynthia looked back at him and thought on the matter for a minute. "In that case then, yes I would like to meet her whenever I get a chance."

Michael smiled at her and said, "That chance will be coming pretty quickly. I got a message yesterday that she was coming here since I was going to take longer than expected to get finished."

Cynthia's eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't think it would be this soon. When is she going to be here?"

"In about an hour." Michael said.

"An hour!?" she said. Cynthia was not sure if she was ready for this.

Michael nodded to her and said, "Yes, but you don't have to meet her that quickly. How does tomorrow afternoon sound? You can have lunch with us."

Cynthia took a deep breath and let out a long sigh of relief. While she really did want to meet Feyalisa, she had wanted a bit of time to think of what to say to her. Michael's comment about her being here in an hour had scared her for a moment.

She finally nodded and said, "Yes, I think that would be a good idea."

She stood and dusted off her backside. "So, when and where?" she asked.

"I'll send a shuttle for you about two hours before midday." Michael replied.

She nodded and said, "Sounds good to me."

She turned and slowly walked away. As she did she said, "See you tomorrow, Michael."

Michael watched as she walked away. He had intended to do some other things before Cynthia had shown up. Now he decided to just sit here and watch Aria for a while longer. After about thirty minutes of this, Aria left the other children and walked to where he was sitting.

She squatted down in front of him and inquired, "Who was that human you were talking with for so long, father?"

Michael smiled at her. Of course she had noticed him sitting there with Cynthia for all that time. She had probably even noticed that they were discussing something private. She had, therefore, waited till she was gone to come over. Dizyntk were nothing if not considerate, especially of another's privacy.

"She was an old friend of mine. I knew her before I met your mother." Michael explained.

Aria's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow, what are the odds that she would have been here?"

Michael laughed at this. "Pretty long odds, I would guess."

"Were the two of you lovers back then?" Aria asked with a smile on her face.

Michael was almost embarrassed. It was like he had told Cynthia, however. Dizyntk really were not put off by this sort of thing. This went double for Aria. She liked to talk about anything.

He just looked down slightly as he answered, "Yes, Aria, we were."

He looked up and smiled. "But right now, we need to get back so we can have your party."

Aria sighed. "There is no hurry, father. It will just be the two of us and the staff."

"Hey now, a party is a party." he said. "Besides that, Falianasa said she was making something sweet for your birthday."

Aria thought on that for moment. Falianasa, the mansions head chef, had proven to be an excellent cook. At least as good as the ones back on Sapphire, maybe even better. The thought of her preparing sweets especially for her birthday made Aria salivate.

Aria nodded her head quickly. "You are right, let's go eat my ... I mean, have my party."

It was a thirty minute flight from the human settlement to the mansion. During the flight, Aria leaned against her father and took a nap. After they landed, Michael let Aria get off first so that she would be the first one in the doors.

Aria was looking forward to having a bath as well as having her sweets. One of the servants opened the door for her. As usual, she started to thank her for doing this. She only got it halfway out before she stopped in surprise at who she saw waiting for her just inside the doors.

"MOTHER!" she shouted in joy as she rushed to Feya and hugged her tightly.

"Happy birthday, my dearest." Feya said.

"When did you get here? Did you come all this way just for my birthday? I am so happy to see you. Did Kari and Kalen and Asina come too?" Aria said in one long, unbroken stream.

Feya laughed at this. She was always thankful that Aria was so upbeat and cheerful. "Let's see." Feya said, thoughtfully. "In order, about thirty minutes ago, of course for your birthday, I am happy to see you too, and of course they came."

Feya looked back into the mansion and Aria followed her gaze. There, at the bottom of the stairs, Aria saw the rest of her family. She ran over to them and dropped on her knees to hug both of her younger siblings at the same time. She had dropped hard enough that Michael, Feya and Kari all winced slightly. Aria seemed not to notice it at all.

As Feya watched her daughter hug and kiss her greetings, she felt Michael wrap his arms around her and kiss her ears.

Feya closed her eyes and smiled. "Did you miss me?"

Michael turned her to face him, leaned down and kissed her. Feya stood on her toes as she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss with her usual fervor.

As they finished, Michael smiled at her and answered, "Yes, yes I did."

Movement caught Michael's attention and he looked past Feya and saw Velakari walking up to them. Feya turned her head and saw Kari as well. She stepped aside, grabbed Kari by the wrist and pulled her quickly towards Michael. As Michael wrapped his arms around Kari, Feya giggled and walked towards their children.

Michael and Kari watched Feya walk away for a moment, then looked at each other and smiled.

"I missed you as well, my love." he said to Kari.

Kari just nodded. She rose to her toes, put her hand on the back of his head, pulled his face down to meet hers and gave him a very slow deep kiss.

She snuggled her face against his chest and said, "I missed you very, very much."

Feya got to the children just as Aria stood up from hugging and kissing her brother and sister. Aria turned and saw her mother and hugged her again.

Feya stroked her daughter's hair and asked, "Did you really think that I would miss my oldest daughter's eighth birthday?"

Aria had thought that she would. She was not going to say that however. Instead she just shook her head.

"This is an important day for you." Feya said softly to Aria. "Is their anything I can do for you?"

Feya felt Aria's arms slacken a bit. She shook her head slowly. She obviously wanted something that she did not think her mother could give her. Feya knew, however, that her daughter was wrong about this.

She put her hand under Aria's chin and tilted her face up. "I have a surprise for you waiting in your room. Why don't you go and see what it is. The rest of us will wait in the dining room until you come back."

Aria looked confused. What could her mother have brought for her?

"I can wait till after dinner." Aria said.

Feya slowly shook her head as she smiled at Aria. "No, my dearest. You look like you could use some cheering up. So go upstairs right now and see what I brought you."

Aria was still confused, but her mother was right. She was a bit sad now. There was one reason that she was regretting having to have her birthday here on Elishen. Maybe her mother was right. Maybe whatever it was that she had brought for her would cheer her up.

Kari and Michael reached the stairs next to Feya just as Aria reached the top. Michael had heard the last thing that Feya had said to her.

"What did you bring her?" he asked Feya.

She just kept looking up the stairs, even after Aria was out of sight, and said, "That is a secret."

He looked questioningly down at Kari, who said, "You will find out when she comes back down."

Aria reached the room she had shared with her father. She was still wondering what her mother had gotten for her. Whatever it was, she was sure that it would not be as good as what she really wanted right now. She opened the door and gasped as her eyes went wide. The only thought in her head was, "How did she know?"

Sitting on the edge of the bed, facing in her direction and smiling, was Lilavasi. She heard her friend gasp and giggled.

"Are you surprised to see me, Aria?" she asked as she stood up.

For several seconds Aria could not say anything. She just stood there in stunned silence. She had wanted, more than anything, to be with Vasi on this day. She had hoped that her father's work would be done in time to return to Sapphire for her party. When she realized that it would not, she had sent a message to Lilavasi to let her know. She never expected her to come all the way to Elishen to be with her. Yet here she was, standing in front of her and smiling at her.

Vasi stretched out her hand and said in her soft, sweet voice, "Aria, come here."

Aria walked quickly over to her and took her hand. She then pulled Vasi to her body and hugged her tightly. Aria buried her face into Vasi's neck and cried a little. She had never been this happy in her life.

Vasi softly petted Aria's head and said, "Are you that happy to see me?"

Aria replied, "Yes, yes I wanted to see you so badly today. I was certain I would not."

Vasi smiled at this. She asked, "Why did you want to see me so badly?"

Aria straightened up and smiled at her friend. Although the two of them lived on different planets, they had still managed to spend almost half of every Cyanka together since they had met. They still loved to go hunting, just the two of them. Aria had decided to ask her friend to do something for her almost a cyanka ago. Today was finally the day for that question.

"Lilavasi, I have turned eight today and am allowed to kiss another now." Aria's heart was racing as she finished. "Will you let me kiss you?"

Vasi giggled a little. She was happy that Aria had been so brave as to ask her this directly. She had known for a while that Aria was thinking of her this way. Vasi may have been blind but even she had been able to tell Aria's feelings for her over the past cyanka.

She asked sweetly, "You want me to be your first?"