Unholy Star, Beyond Faith

Titus and Hetasha

[Halls of learning, Qura Amara, the living platform]

The wolves closed in. They'd been following Sen for the past several days and making no attempt to hide their presence. She found their distant stares unsettling, and no matter where she went they always seemed to be there. Sen figured that she'd be safest around others so ensured that she stuck as close as she could to her friend Bast or one of their Mawlas. But this morning, none of the mentors were about she'd found Bast in an unbreakable trance in the breakfast room, a state that the boy auger had started falling into regularly since they arrived at the living platform.

The common room was quiet. The windows had shifted into morning mode, a golden light filtered through from the perpetual bright white light outside, giving the mostly red interior an extra warm feel. To Sen's relief, the only other person in the room was the Learned they called Titus; he sat in his place on the corner end of a cushioned bench seated that ran along the left-hand wall; He was swatting imaginary butterflies in the air just as Sen remembered when she had first seen him at the welcome party. Sen took an interest in the look of intense concentration on his kind-of-old face, his thick, disheveled, brown hair giving him a look of strangeness that was not familiar to her twelve-year-old eyes. For some reason Sen thought with a grown-up nearby she would be safe from the wolves. Unfortunately, however, her stalkers didn't consider the mute protection, to them, the passive figure was just another form of prey. The attack on Sen came from the front and from behind.

The leader of the pack was a pretty girl, with straight blonde hair, blue eyes and a smattering of freckles about her cheeks. When Sen had met Ester for the first time she had wished that her freckles were like Ester's rather than a face thick with the spots all over. As the smiling girl approached with her friends close behind, Sen hoped that maybe she had it all wrong. Ever since she could remember, she'd been socially awkward, finding it difficult to understand people's intentions; a condition that annoyed her considering that she was supposed to be so smart. She thought quickly that maybe now she had a chance to make a good start with the girl and her brothers and sisters of the Enthaa Aashar. "Hi!" She said warmly with as big and unintentionally crooked smile as she could muster.

"Oh, hi, murderer." The blond girl level-eyed up to Sen with the others close behind. In an instant of terror, Sen realised that she had mistaken the smiles to be friendly and not the smirking, spells of malefice that they really were. One of the gang had circled around unseen. The boy who was taller than all of the others walked up and pushed Sen hard in the back sending her flying forward into the blonde girl. Everyone laughed as Ester pushed their surprised victim back.

Sen became frantic, and her throat tightened up so that she couldn't cry out to Titus for help. She glanced over at him, but the Learned seemed oblivious to the world around him. Ester saw her interest in the man, "I'd stay away from him if I were you." she said, "He fucks children!"

They laughed as Sen was overwhelmed by a rush of emotions--she hated this place--she hated them--she missed her mother, father and family--her home; then she remembered that her father was dead. Someone grabbed her hair and pulled painfully. "Look, she's crying like a baby!" Ester grunted as she pulled harder and Sen whelped in pain. None of the children noticed the young, white-tattooed woman rush into the room, but they all saw her grab Sen's attacker to the side and give the startled girl a slap hard across the face. Ester fell to the ground. Hetasha, the tatooed Learned, was furious, "Get up you little shit before I really fuck you up."

The wolf pack scattered and Ester threatened to tell her Malwa what Hetasha had done to her. But Hetasha only laughed and said, "Go ahead, I'll be more than happy to deal with that weasel too. Now, piss off!"

The girl fled and Hetasha tuned to Sen, "Are you okay?" She asked. Sen sniffed and nodded shyly. Hetasha bent down to one knee and held Sen's flushed face in her hands, "Listen to me little one, you're no murderer, trust me I know. And don't worry about what they said about Titus Andronicus, you know he's the best thing about this place and wouldn't hurt even a flea. Ever."

Hetasha stood, "Let me get you a honey and ginger tea."

She guided Sen over to the wall bench near Titus and waited, the new Ethnaa Aashar was dazed but had enough presence of mind to wonder how Hetasha had known what Ester had said to her. Still, despite the Learned's reassurance, the words, 'hi murderer' rang through her head. She looked over to Titus who hadn't moved an inch and was still hitting at the air.

Hetasha came back in with two steaming cups; one for Sen, and one for Titus who acknowledged the cup with a brief and straightforward grin and nod, but still didn't stop his over-head gesturing.

"Hetasha, can I say hello to..." she pointed shyly to her left, towards Titus.

"Titus. Yes you can. But don't expect a reply, he's not being rude he's just like that.

"By-the-way Sen, you can call me Hett."

Sen smiled and stood up taking a couple of steps over toward pre-occupied Learned. "Hello, I'm Sen."

Titus looked over and gave the exact same expression he had passed on to Hett only a few moments earlier.

"See." Said Hett.

Sen returned back to her spot next to Hetasha who was now sitting too. Her spirits were returning having made new friends. She looked sideways and studied the beautifully smooth, brown skin on Hett's face and the white tattoos. She noticed that the fine lines of the markings, up close, seemed to have an opalescence about them. The young Learned's hair had been tied into a hundred tiny knots with a design that carried through from the pattern of tattoos. Most of the jewellery that she'd been wearing when Sen first saw her at the greeting party had been removed, only the ear piercings and a small chain hanging over the ridge of her nose remained.

"So, how do you like the drink? Ginger is an ancient herb that grows like a weed on my planet."

Sen took a sip, the spicy drink wasn't quite to her taste, but she didn't want to complain, "It's nice, thank you." Finally, her curiosity got the best of her, "Um, if it's not rude of me to ask, why is Titus waving his hands about like that?"

"It's okay, we talk about him all the time in front him, he doesn't mind." Hetasha screwed up her face while she tried to think of the best way to explain. "Well, Titus is an Alchemist, I bet you know what Alchemists are, don't you? They take elements and manipulate them to do all kinds of wonderful things."

"Yes, my brother Sea Buck is an alchemist, a good one too. I know all about alchemists." Sen admitted proudly. "But I don't understand why Titus is swatting imaginary butterflies?"

"Ha! Yes, I can see how you would think that." Hett chuckled, and Sen thought her wide smile was AMAZING. "It's good that you think of butterflies, most people say he is swatting flies, butterflies are much sweeter than nasty flies.

"Well, as an alchemist, Titus is the best there is, even maybe better than your brother, eh? As for the butterflies, the way I understand it--and let me warn you, this is a bit trippy--Titus can see with his mind's eye deep into the physical world of particular matter. There, looking into the secrets of the universe, he can picture all sorts of incredible combinations and permuations and play with them--move them about so that they interact with one another. We don't think that he is actually manipulating real particles, but rather just imagining how they can behave; it's like a simulation. But no one really knows. The fact is, he's exceptional and, as far as we know, one-of-a-kind."

"Wow." Sen was impressed. And she could have sworn that, at that very moment, she saw a flash of purple light over the alchemist's head. But, alas, there was no way to be sure.