Liberi Reader

A shadow leaps out of the dunes in the moonlight.

The Doctor makes a ring with thumb and index finger, and whistles, producing a strange sound.

Amiya presses her tiny hand against her lips, but used too much force, and only gets a sound out after going all red and puffy in the face.

The pair of whistles echo across the wastes, sending the sandbeasts scurrying underground.

A child's laughter replaces the whistles.

Then the laughter fades away to silence, and a soft little sigh.

Dear Kal'tsit, I was glad to find signs of life wherever I went.

This should be an unfamiliar world, yet there are times when it feels incredibly familiar. I recall the legends that had fascinated me in the past, never failing to capture my imagination despite their age.

The ancient machines that had rumbled in the mines and dust once again roam this land.

Stories can become reality, and the reality we see can become stories.

Dear Kal'tsit, I thought I would never be more a passing visitor in this place, one history would never remember.

This intentional isolation made me forget reality: I am here, on Terra, this great land.

I don't know what made me feel it.

But the warmth of life coming from a child's palm stings my heart and makes it burn.

Dear Kal'tsit, I'm planning to take Amiya back to Babel.

Savage has done her best to find medicine for Amiya, but my ability to treat Amiya's Oripathy is limited under present conditions.

I know that Amiya isn't special, by any objective standard. I know that Babel faces a crisis no less complicated, but I've decided to bring her back.

I met many people along the way. I've fretted over money at times, benefitted from people's generosity at others. I've seen new things, even some that surprised me for the first time in a long while.

The convoy that we were traveling with broke down. We found a herder to guide us through the wilderness of Rim Billiton on the backs of burdenbeasts, to the rumbling of drills and engines.

The Doctor pats Amiya's head, then picks her up and climbs onto the burdenbeast.

They've hardly sat down when the ground begins to shake, stirring up clouds of dust.

The burdenbeast rears up on its hind legs, gives a loud cry, then charges forward.

The rest of the pack follows.

Summer, 1091

Kazdel

The Cautus's ears quiver at the mention of her real name. She glances at the Doctor.

A few months is neither long nor short.

True, it comprised only a tiny part of her lifetime, but it was also a span of a few hundred days, filled with countless unforgettable experiences.

Under the setting sun, before the sandbeasts, beneath the eaves. Upon this land.

She had enjoyed the journey, even if she never fully understood her quiet companion, and the many strange and curious ideas that companion had.

The Cautus who goes by the name of Savage sighs. What can she do? She is not as smart as the Doctor.