Silent Wishes
By Amber Michelle


Chapter Eleven

"Now, child..." The man knelt before her, hands grasping her shoulders with their steady, delicate grip. The soft, cultured words that left his lips were calming, though in Emeralda's understanding, they didn't necessarily mean anything good. "I made a gear for you - just for you. It is awaiting your presence in the docking bay..."

Her bright eyes lit up and she gasped, and her hands moved up to touch his arms in delighted surprise. A gear... she'd always wanted one of those, ever since Seraphita had let her ride in Grandgrowl. He'd never given her a gift before... certainly nothing she'd ever wanted, aside from clothing. As her strange friend would have said, it was so nice...

Krelian leveled his gaze at her, and she dropped her hands to her sides. "There is a reason, however... I want you to follow the other two gears in the docks, if you would, and abide by their instructions until further notice."

Her face fell, just a slight bit... but it lit up again when she realized that she would actually be flying somewhere... SHe'd get to leave the laboratory and see something! She always tried to be patient, as Kim had taught her, but even she could hardly stand confinement for so long with no touch of fresh air, or even sky... Even in Zeboim, there had been sky, on good days. Sky, and even birds if Elly could take time enough off to go to the Nature Preserve...

"... kill any opposition to their work. Do you understand?"

Blinking, Emeralda granted him a nod and bit her lip. She should have listened more closely - it wouldn't be nice to repay his kindness by being a rude little girl. "... Kill?"

Her teeth closed over her lip again, voice sounding rather small in the sudden vastness of the lab office. She... didn't know how she felt about killing. If they were monsters, or bad people, it might not be so bad, but... what if they weren't? She had just promised to follow their orders...

"Yes," he replied, his voice as soft as always. Soft, and emotionless. He did scare her, sometimes... "We cannot have people trying to ruin our protection, can we? You will be safe, as long as you do as you are told. Don't worry about the rest - it will be fine, in the end."

She nodded hesitantly, biting back a sigh of relief as he released her shoulders and stood. It was impossible to meet his eyes without craning her neck back; although she was a bit nervous about it, Emeralda felt compelled to meet that crystalline gaze, and stare her fears in the face. She wasn't disappointed - that smooth, delicate face she had mistaken for a woman's during their first meeting was cool, wintery ice.

And his voice was just the same. "I expect you will do well, Emeralda. You haven't disappointed me yet." The pale lips turned in a very faint smile, though the expression hardly softened his face at all. "Go, now - your companions are already waiting for you."

Silence, and footsteps... she had turned away from his enchanting gaze without even knowing it, obeying those layers in his voice that commanded obedience... But she was just as glad to get away from that harsh presence - harsh, and smooth at the same time, so cold... yet that fire behind his eyes was visible even to her. Even to a child.

She didn't understand him... he was opposites she didn't think she could understand, even if she spent the rest of her life letting him experiment on her. Yet that didn't seem so bad... he was very nice to her, most of the time. He cared for her, and he reminded her of Kim, on those nights where she was kept up late in that laboratory...

But no, she wouldn't think about that. Not right now, when she was supposed to do something important. The elevator was just a few more feet away, and from there, the gear bay she remembered from her first day here, with Krelian... She would go there, as told, and come back - when told. It was only fair, wasn't it?

But why did she get that feeling... a feeling of homesickness? She would be back to see her friend... and she wouldn't have to be afraid that this very solitary man would be too alone.

But she didn't understand why.... why did she feel this way? Surely she would be okay. Surely.


The elevator closed with a faint hiss, leaving only the echo of the girl's presence in the room. But not on his mind; no, she was still quite active in Krelian's thoughts, as he watched that last flash of color disappear into the lift.

She wouldn't be coming back -- he was sure of it. Whether she would be saved or lost was beyond his current knowledge, but regardless... she would not be returning.

He'd given the Nameless Ones orders to leave her behind to fend for herself among the Lambs; she was smart enough to do so, and cute enough that someone would take her in, eventually, unless Fei and his counterpart got to her first. It wasn't impossible... if she failed to defeat them, they would not simply let her go.

And Lacan would intervene, if necessary. No reason to think about it any further...

Some rebellious part of Krelian's mind, however, believed otherwise. Because although he turned back to his consoles, and sat at his desk to work, the reports, the computer screens, refused to focus themselves properly and his thoughts seemed to lock, as if concentration was beyond his meager grasp at that moment.

Was this all about a little girl, this sudden freeze in his soul? One simple, now worthless little girl?

No, she was far from simple... far from anything he had ever encountered in his five hundred years at all. Every inch of that child shouted 'perfection' to his practiced eye, and revealed secrets untold for so many centuries they had become new again, in his technology. Secrets Solaris had never hoped to reach on it's own, secrets even he had not managed to delve into, had been revealed in that first sampling of her cells...

Emeralda was fascinating. Absolutely... engrossing... The knowledge she contained was seemingly endless. Had he the option, he would have kept her, and studied to his heart's content. She was a patient, even sweet subject, possessing a child-like innocence and even something like dear Sophia's features, in her face...

And Kahran, as well. Ramses, his 'failed' experiment...

There was still perfection in him yet. He too had a stunning beauty about him, just as that little girl did... It was the look in the eyes that the two shared, that had so enchanted him when he had been able to indulge himself in it. Innocence, and the surpreme purity of soul that could only come to a perfect, untainted being. God. Emeralda.

And his 'son'... his 'Ramses'...

Even Miang couldn't taint his sweet, honorable disposition. She could only manipulate, as he did... but it would never be destroyed. That boy was God's gift, if indeed any god could exist in this world...

And sometimes, deep in the darkness before dawn, even Krelian could feel just that tiny pinprick of guilt, of sorrow...

And yes, even pride. Pride in the accomplishments of his one and only child...


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