A Mother's Duty - Chapter Sixteen
1 September 5115 (Earth Standard Date)
Gliese 581g (Hubworld)
It was early in the afternoon when Samara decided to get out of the house and quit “brooding”, as Clint was fond of telling her she was doing.
She wandered Gliese City, not really paying attention to her surroundings. The red sunlight was becoming normal for her, and she basked in it a bit as she walked. It wasn’t quite as warm as she was used to, but that was fine; she knew she’d become acclimatised to it the longer she spent on Hubworld.
It was just wasn’t certain how much longer that would be.
There really wasn’t all that much keeping her there, if Samara was being honest with herself. She’d been primarily staying for Gray, but she hadn’t seen him in a couple of weeks now. The news she kept getting from Phillip wasn’t encouraging. Gray wasn’t reacting to the treatment like she’d hoped, and there really wasn’t much Samara could do about it.
She did think about going to see him again, but would it do her baby boy any good? Did this mean she really was giving up on him? Was there a point in time when the law of diminishing returns would kick in, and other decisions would have to be made?
Somehow, Samara had ended up back in the park she’d found a couple of weeks ago. The bench was empty, and so she sat once again under the canopy of leaves. The biologist in her examined the trees, thinking that they certainly didn’t look their venerable years; even though she didn’t doubt that Ianto had spoken truly about Jack bringing them from Earth and planting them there, the sorts of trees these resembled usually didn’t gain their current great age. She wondered if it had to do with the genetic tampering that had to have been done on them to make them able to survive on Hubworld. Or maybe it was the magic that surrounded them.
Sometimes she wished she had the slightest bit of magic in her. Her entire family was, in some small way, magical. Even Jack, who hadn’t been born with a single bit of power within him, had been subtly changed enough to have a dragon form at times…although, after he’d told her how it had happened, Samara wouldn’t have wished that on anybody.
“Welcome back, Mother of the Undying One.”
Samara started. She hadn’t even heard the Fae approach, and yet there it was, kneeling on the ground just in front of her, wings outstretched. “Jasmine, right?”
Ianto had explained about Jasmine, the little girl that he and Jack had given up to the Fae in order to prevent the Earth from being destroyed, and who, later on, had been their Fae contact during one of Earth’s many alien invasions. It was hard to grasp that the creature before her had once been a human child.
The Fae bowed, and while it could have been mocking it somehow wasn’t. “As the Ancient One insists. Although I have long ago shaken off that frail, human skin. I shall answer to it.”
Samara barely managed to keep from roll her eyes at the patronising response. “Is there something you’d prefer to be called?” she inquired, just to prove that it never hurt to be polite.
The creature bared her needle-like teeth at her in a ghastly smile. “Nay, this shall do.” She sat completely on the grass, tucking her feet under her thighs. “What brings you back to these woods, Lady? Have you come to ask us to discharge our debt?”
One more thing that Ianto had told her about: this so-called debt the Fae claimed they owed both Jack and the dragon for saving all the children millennia ago. “I just wanted the peace.” And it was peaceful there, the sounds of the city somehow muffled by the trees. Or maybe it was the magic.
Jasmine nodded. “This is a good place.”
“Is that why you came here?” Samara was genuinely curious as to why the Fae were so far from their home planet.
The Fae shook her head. “We came because the Ancient One and his mate came.”
“I thought there was no love lost between the Fae and the other races.”
“The Undying One brought a small part of our home here. It is a connection to where we are from.”
It wasn’t really much of an answer, but Samara was willing to accept it. Ianto had been adamant that the Fae would only speak the truth when it served them, but they would always keep to their Pacts. “Can you tell me about your home?”
“All Fae are of the Lost Lands,” Jasmine answered. “It is where magic thrives, and where we take all of our Chosen Ones, where they neither wither nor fade, and are happy.”
“But they become like you?”
Jasmine smiled her grisly smile once more. “I am now strong, and no human can hurt me. I am loved and cared for, where in my life as a human child that was not the case. I was healed of my pain and am no longer alone.”
“Don’t you miss your home though?”
“This place is different.” The Fae shrugged. “We live in all times, so although I am here now, I am also back home.”
Alright, that didn’t make a lot of sense, but then it seemed like Jasmine enjoyed speaking in a roundabout way. It was almost like listening to the Great Dragons, and it made Samara wonder if every magical creature with an attachment to Earth was like that. Even Ianto would do it, every once in a while.
“We are also here until the Undying One and the Ancient One’s debt is discharged,” Jasmine went on. “We serve as reminder of that debt.”
“Wait…so you’re here until Jack and Ianto ask you for whatever favour they need from you?” Samara wondered if they knew that.
“Indeed. This piece of Roundstone Wood has become a portal for us…and once that debt is gone, this shall be closed and the trees will continue on in their life cycle.”
Well, that explained why the trees had lasted so long in their new environment. “You mean they stay this way until you and the Fae present here go home?”
Jasmine nodded. “These trees shall not wither or change until the last of the Fae leave this place.”
Samara wondered if Jack had known that when he’d brought the trees from their original ground. She was certain he hadn’t, and that he’d done it for Ianto, but that decision had changed these plants even more than the genetic manipulation that made them able to survive under the red primary.
“The bones of this world are good and strong. They will support us until the time has come.”
“What happens if they never do that?”
“Then we shall be here until the planet cracks and the sun eats the remains.”
She was a bit appalled by that answer. Certainly, a star like Gliese had a lifespan still of millions of years, compared to Earth’s own billions. Basically, Jasmine was saying they were trapped there until either Jack or Ianto got off their arses and asked the Fae to discharge the debt.
Ianto certainly had to know. The dragon was well-versed in the history of Earth and all its lifeforms, and he’d made it plain that neither he nor Jack would ever be asking the Fae for anything. They were basically holding the Fae captive to their need not to ask them to help.
The Fae were spiteful and capricious, but Samara knew that they were as much bound by their Pacts as Ianto was to his family. Samara could understand the dragon not wanting to be beholden to them, but they were beholden to him, and it wasn’t fair.
She was about to say just that when the comm that Clint had given her before she’d left the house beeped in her pocket. Samara frowned and pulled it out, activating it. “Yes?”
“Gran,” Clint’s voice sounded over the tiny speaker, “you need to get to the Tower. Right now.”
Her heart lurched in sheer panic. “What happened?”
“It’s Gray…”
Gliese 581g (Hubworld)
It was early in the afternoon when Samara decided to get out of the house and quit “brooding”, as Clint was fond of telling her she was doing.
She wandered Gliese City, not really paying attention to her surroundings. The red sunlight was becoming normal for her, and she basked in it a bit as she walked. It wasn’t quite as warm as she was used to, but that was fine; she knew she’d become acclimatised to it the longer she spent on Hubworld.
It was just wasn’t certain how much longer that would be.
There really wasn’t all that much keeping her there, if Samara was being honest with herself. She’d been primarily staying for Gray, but she hadn’t seen him in a couple of weeks now. The news she kept getting from Phillip wasn’t encouraging. Gray wasn’t reacting to the treatment like she’d hoped, and there really wasn’t much Samara could do about it.
She did think about going to see him again, but would it do her baby boy any good? Did this mean she really was giving up on him? Was there a point in time when the law of diminishing returns would kick in, and other decisions would have to be made?
Somehow, Samara had ended up back in the park she’d found a couple of weeks ago. The bench was empty, and so she sat once again under the canopy of leaves. The biologist in her examined the trees, thinking that they certainly didn’t look their venerable years; even though she didn’t doubt that Ianto had spoken truly about Jack bringing them from Earth and planting them there, the sorts of trees these resembled usually didn’t gain their current great age. She wondered if it had to do with the genetic tampering that had to have been done on them to make them able to survive on Hubworld. Or maybe it was the magic that surrounded them.
Sometimes she wished she had the slightest bit of magic in her. Her entire family was, in some small way, magical. Even Jack, who hadn’t been born with a single bit of power within him, had been subtly changed enough to have a dragon form at times…although, after he’d told her how it had happened, Samara wouldn’t have wished that on anybody.
“Welcome back, Mother of the Undying One.”
Samara started. She hadn’t even heard the Fae approach, and yet there it was, kneeling on the ground just in front of her, wings outstretched. “Jasmine, right?”
Ianto had explained about Jasmine, the little girl that he and Jack had given up to the Fae in order to prevent the Earth from being destroyed, and who, later on, had been their Fae contact during one of Earth’s many alien invasions. It was hard to grasp that the creature before her had once been a human child.
The Fae bowed, and while it could have been mocking it somehow wasn’t. “As the Ancient One insists. Although I have long ago shaken off that frail, human skin. I shall answer to it.”
Samara barely managed to keep from roll her eyes at the patronising response. “Is there something you’d prefer to be called?” she inquired, just to prove that it never hurt to be polite.
The creature bared her needle-like teeth at her in a ghastly smile. “Nay, this shall do.” She sat completely on the grass, tucking her feet under her thighs. “What brings you back to these woods, Lady? Have you come to ask us to discharge our debt?”
One more thing that Ianto had told her about: this so-called debt the Fae claimed they owed both Jack and the dragon for saving all the children millennia ago. “I just wanted the peace.” And it was peaceful there, the sounds of the city somehow muffled by the trees. Or maybe it was the magic.
Jasmine nodded. “This is a good place.”
“Is that why you came here?” Samara was genuinely curious as to why the Fae were so far from their home planet.
The Fae shook her head. “We came because the Ancient One and his mate came.”
“I thought there was no love lost between the Fae and the other races.”
“The Undying One brought a small part of our home here. It is a connection to where we are from.”
It wasn’t really much of an answer, but Samara was willing to accept it. Ianto had been adamant that the Fae would only speak the truth when it served them, but they would always keep to their Pacts. “Can you tell me about your home?”
“All Fae are of the Lost Lands,” Jasmine answered. “It is where magic thrives, and where we take all of our Chosen Ones, where they neither wither nor fade, and are happy.”
“But they become like you?”
Jasmine smiled her grisly smile once more. “I am now strong, and no human can hurt me. I am loved and cared for, where in my life as a human child that was not the case. I was healed of my pain and am no longer alone.”
“Don’t you miss your home though?”
“This place is different.” The Fae shrugged. “We live in all times, so although I am here now, I am also back home.”
Alright, that didn’t make a lot of sense, but then it seemed like Jasmine enjoyed speaking in a roundabout way. It was almost like listening to the Great Dragons, and it made Samara wonder if every magical creature with an attachment to Earth was like that. Even Ianto would do it, every once in a while.
“We are also here until the Undying One and the Ancient One’s debt is discharged,” Jasmine went on. “We serve as reminder of that debt.”
“Wait…so you’re here until Jack and Ianto ask you for whatever favour they need from you?” Samara wondered if they knew that.
“Indeed. This piece of Roundstone Wood has become a portal for us…and once that debt is gone, this shall be closed and the trees will continue on in their life cycle.”
Well, that explained why the trees had lasted so long in their new environment. “You mean they stay this way until you and the Fae present here go home?”
Jasmine nodded. “These trees shall not wither or change until the last of the Fae leave this place.”
Samara wondered if Jack had known that when he’d brought the trees from their original ground. She was certain he hadn’t, and that he’d done it for Ianto, but that decision had changed these plants even more than the genetic manipulation that made them able to survive under the red primary.
“The bones of this world are good and strong. They will support us until the time has come.”
“What happens if they never do that?”
“Then we shall be here until the planet cracks and the sun eats the remains.”
She was a bit appalled by that answer. Certainly, a star like Gliese had a lifespan still of millions of years, compared to Earth’s own billions. Basically, Jasmine was saying they were trapped there until either Jack or Ianto got off their arses and asked the Fae to discharge the debt.
Ianto certainly had to know. The dragon was well-versed in the history of Earth and all its lifeforms, and he’d made it plain that neither he nor Jack would ever be asking the Fae for anything. They were basically holding the Fae captive to their need not to ask them to help.
The Fae were spiteful and capricious, but Samara knew that they were as much bound by their Pacts as Ianto was to his family. Samara could understand the dragon not wanting to be beholden to them, but they were beholden to him, and it wasn’t fair.
She was about to say just that when the comm that Clint had given her before she’d left the house beeped in her pocket. Samara frowned and pulled it out, activating it. “Yes?”
“Gran,” Clint’s voice sounded over the tiny speaker, “you need to get to the Tower. Right now.”
Her heart lurched in sheer panic. “What happened?”
“It’s Gray…”