{"id":4375,"date":"2025-04-02T13:25:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T20:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/?p=4375"},"modified":"2026-06-05T11:43:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:43:38","slug":"staying-grounded-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/staying-grounded-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"STAYING GROUNDED – PART THREE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image credit: Waboba (SHAPE)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Now:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Commisioner\u2019s Bunten\u2019s new Gertan aide has long forgotten she was taking notes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u2026 T\u00edr na n\u00d3g is out there somewhere?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Clere shrugs. \u201cHow would I know? Some say, is all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Commissioner Duvane actually knew what happened to the Old Ones?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Clere suddenly feels very old and tired. \u201cDoes it really matter? This was, what, hundreds of years ago? If she told anyone, we\u2019d all know by now, wouldn\u2019t we?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gertan\u2019s excitement deflates. \u201cRight, of course.\u201d She peers over her glasses at Clere. \u201cThis is a very interesting story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m only telling it to you for one reason, you know. Because it\u2019s your first day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, do you work here too?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Clere laughs. \u201cNo, I\u2026 do fieldwork.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor Special Projects?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I sort of <\/span><\/i>am<\/span> a special project,<\/span><\/i> Clere thought to herself. \u201cYes, you could say that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A hunter-killer Servitor floated past them down the hallway, headed to a new assignment, and both their eyes tracked its progress past the frieze and marble walls.<\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/span><\/p>\n

Then:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Bram came back three Rendezvous after Rosmerta was fed into a recycling bucket. Shae had inherited her wooden cane, and kept it by her bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bram strode right up to her as she was distributing a chicken and vegetable dinner with a side of goop to four elders, two more young children, and the eternal brownie-fella who lived in the hidey-hole. She saved a pinch for the spirits, even though she didn\u2019t believe in them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHello, sis,\u201d came the voice from behind her, and as she whirled around he grabbed her by the waist as he used to, and lifted her up so that they were eye to eye, her feet dangling down in mid air. She shrieked, because it was part of the game, and then hugged him, and for a moment the twins were one again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so good to see you back, Bram,\u201d she murmured into his shoulder. When he didn\u2019t respond, she lifted her head to look into his face. \u201cYou <\/span>are<\/span><\/i> back, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bram looked at her, and she saw that he was older, inside. Well, so was she.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPut me down, then, and let\u2019s talk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They retreated to a quiet corner.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI brought fresh food,\u201d Bram said, gesturing at his sack. \u201cFruit. Grains. Real meat, salted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMmm,\u201d Shae said. \u201cStrawberries?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know about strawberries?\u201d Bram said, surprised.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot has happened here, Bram.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI heard you joined the House of Magic,\u201d Bram said, fingering the wooden cane. Its carvings and intricate knots were soft and blurred with handling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMore like it took me,\u201d Shae said shortly. \u201cI still think it\u2019s a pile of nonsense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bram looked around. \u201cWord has spread. Your group thrives.\u201d And indeed, the small community on Shae\u2019s ship was no longer sleeping on pallets. There were beds. Enclosed rooms. Kitchens. Chicken and vegetable dinners. Machinery hummed around them. It was like Shae and her Fae lived in harmony with the machines. Still goop though. \u201cRumor is that you have mastered the spells.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBullshit,\u201d Shae said. \u201cThere are no spells. There\u2019s just science.\u201d She wouldn\u2019t share all the secrets, but she also didn\u2019t feel comfortable lying about them. \u201cRosmerta \u2013 remember her? \u2013 taught me how to talk to the Servitors. Did you know they talk?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bram nodded. \u201cGround Fae talk to them often. We spy for them, on the other humans.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shae noted the \u201cwe.\u201d \u201cAre you a ground Fae now, Bram? You aren\u2019t coming back, are you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bram was silent for a long time. His face was drawn. \u201cI\u2026 made friends down there,\u201d he said, with some difficulty. \u201cThey are people, like us. But they look like c\u0175n, or the legends of c\u0175n, anyway\u2026 you know, snouts and fur and\u2026\u201d He waved his hands helplessly. \u201cBut they\u2019re in trouble. They\u2019re dying. Their planet, there\u2019s a food crisis, and famine, and\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shae tried to parse this. \u201cYou\u2019re here to ask me for help?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He looked at her, face open in appeal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how to help that!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He was as stubborn as ever. \u201cThey aren\u2019t the only ones, Shae. It\u2019s <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> the humans. On <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> the planets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRunning out of food?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo\u2026 war, for some. Climate, for others. Plagues.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She sighed. \u201cWe\u2019re all only human after all, I suppose.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you help?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By Goedwig, he still affected her silly cloth wrapped around his broken antler. Perhaps the girls found it dashing. \u201cI\u2026 maybe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He smiled, and it was like seeing sky. Her big hulking brother smiling. And seeing sky gave her an idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m going to do this because some dog people ate the last dish of food on their planet,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bram grinned, like he did when they were kids. \u201cIt\u2019s what dogs do!\u201d And they burst out laughing.<\/span><\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t take him with her. She respected the traditions of the House of Magic just enough for that. Instead, she edged her way along the walkway above the vast abyss where drones zipped in endless lines. She crept through the circuitry boards that blinked and shone and glowed and made her skin defy perception and become a color out of space. She nimbly leapt across the river that folded her soul like origami and unfolded her back into just a really short Fae in her early twenties who was about to do something really stupid.<\/span><\/p>\n

She marched into what she thought of as the Space Chamber, and hefted the wooden walking stick. There was still a bit of a carbonized spot on the floor. She avoided standing in it, as usual.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shae had been here many times by now. She had spent hours talking to the Servitors. Different ones \u2013 her favorite was the rusty one. Rosmerta was with her at first, but it wasn\u2019t long until Shae had far outstripped her teacher. Rosmerta taught her the arguments to use to get the Servitors to ReLife the dead. But it was Shae who deduced how to get them to heal. To chronophase. To molecularly compress. And now her small community had refrigeration, and medicines, and building materials.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was no longer the girl who once stole goop from the gods. Now she stole somewhat more powerful things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before starting the conversation, she stood in her favorite spot, at the window. The ship was in active motion, approaching the whirlpool in space that signified a wormhole gate to elsewhere. As usual, she shivered on seeing the abyss, and the way the abyss saw her back. She saw the steady lights of a thousand thousand stars, and thought of all the life that lived on all the spinning whirling balls of mud and rock. All those people, under thin blankets of air, with the endless void above them.<\/span><\/p>\n

For a brief moment, she felt a dream stir inside her, and she pictured all those people flying free. Like birds. Into the sky.<\/span><\/p>\n

She put her hands against the glass, reaching for the stars. She felt the stars reach back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shae Duvane took up her wooden walking stick, marched up to the rusty Servitor, and hauled off like that stick was a bat, smacking the head of the robot so hard it actually spun.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lights lit up on the rusty Hunter-Killer, and alarms rose from the others. A hundred weapons turned on her in an instant.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOrganic,\u201d the rusty Servitor said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHi, Rusty. I brought you a strawberry,\u201d Shae said, and held it out to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cQuery: What does one do with this organic seed structure?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne tastes it,\u201d Shae said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFascinating,\u201d the Servitor said. It opened a chemical analysis lab in its chest and fed the berry in. \u201cYour gift is appreciated. Did you have further business?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Shae said. She took a deep deep breath, and exhaled slowly. \u201cI am here to update the Bargain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

*<\/span><\/p>\n

Now:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Duvane did was persuade the Servitors that it was their obligation to keep all the types of humanity alive. And that it would require freeing them from their worlds, and allowing them to spread out and live. She even talked them into letting us have some of the technology from which they were built,\u201d Clere says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, we got the TPL?\u201d the Gertan says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clere nods. \u201cAnd so we got the TPL.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what happened with her brother Bram?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the TPL was established, he went back to find the planet where he had been living. But\u2026 it was empty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gertan looks horrified. \u201cThey were all gone? The famine drove them extinct?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Clere shakes her head. \u201cUnless some Servitors maybe preserved a population and moved them. We just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gertan gazes up at the frieze. Then she looks back at Clere. The hallway is quite full now, as people are returning from lunch breaks. \u201cI suppose Commissioner Bunten is back by now?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cProbably,\u201d Clere says, and stands, dusting herself off. \u201cI know that my friends are here, they\u2019ve been waiting for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh!\u201d The Gertan stands quickly as well, flustered. \u201cI\u2019m sorry! I didn\u2019t mean to keep you\u2026?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fine,\u201d Clere says. She looks through the crowd at the two figures approaching. One of them is big and the crowd is parting for him. She begins to whistle a tune, but as usual, can\u2019t hit the high note.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d says the Gertan. \u201cWas that that Old Earth song \u2018Take On Me?\u2019 I\u2019ll be so glad when this stupid galactic fad for 20<\/span>th<\/span> and 21<\/span>st<\/span> century Old Earth popular culture ends?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot your thing?\u201d Clere says, chuckling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d the aide says. \u201cI\u2026 well, you\u2019ll think this is silly, but I like Skwatchi slam poetry?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d Clere says as her two friends get there. \u201cEverything comes and goes if you wait long enough. Hey there, Timurr. Check it out, Bunten\u2019s got a new aide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The portly Elioni bows to the young Gertan. \u201cGreetings.\u201d She nods back, a bit distracted. The Elioni is accompanied by the largest Fae that she has ever seen, as big as a Skwatchi just about. His wings look completely ridiculous on him.<\/span><\/p>\n

He nods at her impassively, then goes to stand next to Clere and says \u201cCap\u2019n,\u201d and they both look at the frieze together. \u201cBugs me, they didn\u2019t get the wings right,\u201d he rumbles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, my dear,\u201d Timurr says, \u201cI suppose I should introduce you to your new boss. Commissioner Bunten was just dining with us, and should be arriving at any moment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh!\u201d she squeaks, and adjusts her glasses. She gathers her box under one arm, and Timurr takes her by the elbow ready to guide her away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWait!\u201d she says. She runs over to Clere, and says, \u201cThank you? It really was so very interesting\u2026 and we owe her so much? Even though I recognize it must have been fictionalized?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Clere cocks an eyebrow at her. \u201cI\u2019m not in the habit of lying.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, of course not? But it happened so so long ago, and you can\u2019t have known her, even with ReLifing, people age and die\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrue!\u201d Clere says. \u201cPeople do.\u201d She reaches up to a pocket on her shirt, then lowers her hand. \u201cSo, is the <\/span>Peril <\/span><\/i>ready?\u201d she says to the giant Fae.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAye Captain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen we should go. There are dog people to find. Timurr, good to see you again! Make sure she finds Bunten.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, Captain Scansion!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And the Gertan aide is swept away into the crowd, head already spinning with the constant chatter of the Elioni beside her. She never gets to ask Clere what the lesson was, that reason why Clere was telling her the story, but she feels emboldened to take on the day and her new job. <\/span>My goodness,<\/span><\/i> she thinks, <\/span>I am now an aide-de-camp to the Commissioner for Special Projects for the whole TransPlanetary League! I can\u2019t let my nervousness get the best of me! Not when I have Duvane\u2019s example before me!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t get to see the huge Fae pull a tattered old bit of cloth from a pocket, and rub it between his fingers. And she didn\u2019t get to see him brush his hand against the bronze sculpture, right there where hands had touched it into brilliance over hundreds of years, or hear him whisper \u201cHello, sis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Because sometimes when legends walk among us, we don\u2019t really notice.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":217806712,"featured_media":4399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1462,1457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-lore-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/starsreach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Waboba-SHAPE_staircases.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdLeGO-18z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217806712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4375"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7898,"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4375\/revisions\/7898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starsreach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}