All That Glitters Ch. 47

Juanita smiled, remembering how the two had met during his work at rebuilding the compound. They had hit it off almost immediately and became an item within days. Sylvie was worried that he would leave after the job and she would never see him again, while Trevor was worried that she seemed standoffish to him and couldn't figure out why. It was Juanita who pointed out the obvious to the both of them, making each feel guilty to the other. They smiled at each other and that was it, they were hooked.

"And to think that you almost gave her up because you couldn't figure her out," Juanita teased Trevor.

He smiled guiltily. "I'm just happy that I got a job that kept me in the area," he informed her.

"So, when do I receive the invitation?" Juanita asked.

"Invitation?" Trevor looked confused.

"To the wedding, silly. It's obvious that is where you are both heading. I'm just wondering when you are going to man-up and commit?" she said, giving Trevor a significant look.

Trevor got a look about him that said he was thinking of important things. "I guess today is as good a day as any," he told her with a lazy smile.

Later that day, Trevor went to the Resort's jewellery shop and purchased a ring.

Juanita was heading to her friend's apartment for the evening meal when she heard a squeal and laughter coming from the apartment's open window. It took her a few moments to get to the front door and knock. As soon as it opened, Sylvie jumped into Juanita's arms.

"He asked me!!" she shouted, then showed her the ring on her finger.

"Well, someone pushed me over the edge today, Sylvie," Trevor stated, nodding to Juanita. Sylvie looked at her friend, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Oh, Juanita! Thank-you so much!" Sylvie cried into her friends shoulder while Trevor came and held the both of them.

Denders Resort Shuttle Port, South-West Coast of North America, Terra, The Sol System

On Friday, 7^th of July 2487, Djinaëte ships once again came into orbit high above the gravity well of Terra. This time, however, there were also a number of 'smaller' Union Navy vessels helping in the transportation of dignitaries. If you could call Fairling Class Frigates small...

Juanita Invierno, UDC functionary, was back in her place behind the customs agents set up to greet the larger group of dignitaries and thrill seekers from the Greater Community. Denders was expecting more than ten thousand non-human guests this time.

Various types of shuttles were constantly moving up to and down from orbit as they transferred their passengers to the shuttle port. Most were ordinary shuttles but there was a very large contingent of VIP shuttles dropping off the ruling class and family members of the ruling families of the twelve races, their Ambassadors and aides, their Senior Ministers and aides, and the members of the great families of the Greater Community. This summit was going to be much larger and much better attended than the previous one.

Juanita Invierno was quickly introduced to the Royal Family of the Harradi, the Impatoss Hatel Konexi, his mate, Grenta Konexi, and his eldest daughter and potentially the future Impatosse, Shallel Konexi.

"Welcome to Terra and the 2487 Denders Summit, Impatoss," Juanita said with a bow. "I am Juanita Invierno, functionary for the Union Diplomatic Corps who is assigned to expedite matters involving diplomats of the Greater Community during your stay. If you have any problems, please feel free to call me at any time. I will make arrangements for you as required."

"Juanita touched her modest comp to the expensive looking comp that the Impatoss' aide wore, passing on her contact information to that luminary. She then signalled Sylvie Triand who came forward to pass on the number of the private villa assigned to the family. A few moments later, the family was whisked away to Denders Resort in a trio of electric carts, one for the family, one for the aides, and one with all the luggage.

The morning continued in like trend until the vessels in orbit had finished discharging their passengers. In total 10,826 representatives of the Greater Community were here for the summit, only half of which were actually participants. The remainder being hangers on or there simply for the vacation.

Finally, PV The Trine settled onto the shuttle pad and the Piscium family, their mothers and fathers, and their siblings, came down from The Trine and went through customs.

"Hello again Juanita, it is good to see you once more," Hanalei greeted the woman.

"And I you, Hanalei, your presence last year helped so much during that summit," Juanita smiled.

Hanalei turned to the woman standing next to Juanita. "Sylvie, so good to see you, and see you looking so radiant! I assume that living with Trevor is a good thing?" she asked.

Sylvie blushed but nodded her head to Hanalei.

"Hug!" said a little girl in Urano's arms.

"Ikekia, you are getting so big!" Sylvie said of the little girl as she took her in her arms.

"Me talk now too!" Ikekia told Sylvie, surprising her.

"Me tawk too!" said Zarrenia, not to be outdone by her big sister.

"Zarrenia, you can speak! That is soo amazing!" Sylvie said, giving the child her own hug. The Cats were suddenly on her shoulder, chittering in her ear and jumping between her and Juanita, who laughed at their antics.

The family was given their villa number while the extended family was placed in higher end private rooms in the nearby blocks.

"How are things now at Denders?" Hanalei asked.

"The purpose-built accommodation blocks for the Greater Community were finished just in time for this event. We now have accommodations for an extra ten thousand humans over what we had last year, and another ten thousand members of the Greater Community. They will be pleased with the new accommodations as they were designed around the distinctive quarters at the Johal Compound. Once that gets back to their respective home worlds, we can expect a higher number of Greater Community Guests.

"The Board of Governors was not pleased that you had given the OK for those changes, as they felt that we were spending too much money on new blocks without a ready market but, like last year, this summit should bring that market to Denders," Sylvie told her.

"Trevor is at our apartment here at Denders, he can give you an update on the compound whenever you want," Sylvie told Hanalei waggling her finger to her boss when she spoke of Trevor.

"Not today. Today is for relaxing and lounging around on the beach," Hanalei advised. "By the Gods, Sylvie! Are you engaged?" Hanalei demanded, suddenly noticing the ring.

"Yep, happened only a couple of weeks ago. The man finally decided he needed me in his life," Sylvie smiled as she accepted hugs from Fayad, Hanalei, Junelliya, Violletiya, Clarrisiya, Takebayashi Urano, and Sylvie Kinlo.

They made their way down to the villa, chatting excitedly about the upcoming wedding.

"What of the daycare? Were you able to get an adequate number of support personnel from the Greater Community?" Junelliya asked, bringing the conversation back around to the resort.

"We were, in fact, we had to beat them back with a wooden stick, there were so many applicants, as well as human applicants!" Sylvie gushed. "We also got support personnel from the Greater Community for the special needs of the resort's new accommodation blocks. If they do well, we will hire them on after the Summit."

"Urano, if you want the job of day care director again, you can have it as you are definitely the most qualified this year. We haven't designated that task to anyone yet."

Urano smiled and nodded. She needed more experience dealing with non-human children before she opened the first daycare on Liramor-23 and this was the place to get it.

************

The family situated itself quickly and then moved down to the beach where a large open tent had been set up for them. They met the Kumar-Pair and their children, who were in a villa of their own not far from that of the Piscium's.

Ikekia, Zarrenia, and the Cats, were happy to be in the presence of their God-mother and her brood, Prakesh, Nal-Jarl, and Sun-Jarl. The children were placed on a very large blanket under the shadow of the tent with their alphabet blocks under the watchful eyes of the Kumir-Rai/Ro while the Kumar-Pair and the Piscium adults lounged in the sun nearby.

It wasn't long before members of the Greater Community with children of their own congregated around the Piscium's sun shelter, their children playing with Ikekia, Zarrenia, and the many other children of the different races, their parents surprised to see human children playing with alphabet blocks in their own languages.

The non-human children helped Ikekia and Zarrenia learn new words to spell, while the two children did the same for their new friends in Standard. The various children enjoyed the mental and physical interaction with the other children.

All except for an Ultar female named Varren. Varren was an Ultar who was at the far end of her time as such. The average Asocan was an Ultar for just over two years. Varren had been an Ultar for three years and counting. This was unusual for the species.

Varren's issue was that she was too strong. Larger, stronger, and fiercer than her contemporaries, she simply pushed her way through life. While the Asocans were a warrior species, they also highly valued intelligence. Varren had simply not learned the lesson of using her intelligence to achieve an objective when she could simply power her way to whatever she wanted. This meant she remained an Ultar into her third year and would likely never amount to anything more than a menial labourer.

Varren stomped around at the edge of the large blanket, her anger evident, digging up sand with her lower legs and flinging it up into the wind to be strewn everywhere regardless of other Asocans or other races. She didn't care.

Varren was angry that she had not yet been named Shamot and allowed to attend school. She had tried to force her way into the classrooms only to be rebuffed by the adults. She could not understand that brute power was not the only means of success in life. Nor could she understand why she had been brought to this new world. The reason was simple, her primary caregiver was attending the summit as a vacationer. In order to be allowed to do so, she had to bring Varren.

Marrat Mutt Semt was a contemporary of her older cousin, Dragon Jr. Ambs. Utan> Mutt Semt. While Utan> had gone into the political spectrum, Marrat had become a worker for Early Childhood Development, a field she loved.

However, where Varren was concerned, Marrat was at her wits end. She had no idea how to get through to an obviously intelligent Ultar who acted the way that Varren did. Varren needed to be overpowered by someone of her own age group to make her realize that she needed to start thinking her way through life. But there was no one her age strong enough to best the contrary Ultar. Marrat stayed just at the periphery of the activity around Varren, trying to ensure that the Ultar would not disturb others. It was a losing battle.

Varren kicked up some more sand, the wind carrying it onto the blanket that she refused to step onto until she was challenged. And she was when one of the Byandi children made a comment to her about being a responsible person.

Varren moved swiftly onto the blanket and pushed the other child down, causing surprise all around her.

Ikekia stood up and waggled a finger at the young Asocan. *You bad, you not make others sad!* Ikekia said in Asocan, surprising Varren. Varren bared her teeth. This child had scolded her like adults did!

Varren snapped her jaw shut, causing a loud sound and advanced on the scolding child. This brought her into proximity of Prakesh and her brothers. Varren didn't care about the other children around her, only the child she was focused on. She swiftly advanced against Ikekia to be suddenly intercepted by another human child.

Feeling the threat, the Cats all jumped onto the heads of Ikekia, Zarrenia, and Prakesh and assumed their dominance pose, voicing a threatening hiss at Varren. Varren didn't even pause in her approach as the Cats were just too small a threat to her.

Zarrenia had watched the brief exchange and understood that the Asocan was angry. As the Ultar came toward her sister, and consequently threatened to step on Prakesh and her brothers, Zarrenia extended her hand and stepped between them.

Marrat saw the child's hand briefly glow as it touched the chest of Varren. A sudden look of shock and horror crossed Varren's face and she fell over backwards onto the blanket, her mouth open in surprise.

"Zarrenia, what did you do?" Junelliya asked of her child in the way that only a mother could.

Zarrenia touched her sister who turned to their mother. "Zarry say this one make other child sad, so Zarry make her feel this sad," Ikekia replied for her sister.

"Oh! Make your enemy feel the plight of those she has wronged!" Clarrisiya said, a look of surprise crossing her face.

Ikekia stepped forward, extending a hand to the young Asocan, who took it warily.

*You be good?* she asked of the Ultar.

Varren stood up and nodded to the strange one. *Bez Varren* she said, giving her name.

*Hurl< ana Varren,* Ikekia replied. *Bez Ikekia. Bez Clutch Zarrenia. (I am Ikekia, this is my Clutch mate, Zarrenia).

Varren gave a worried look to Zarrenia, which caused Ikekia to laugh.

*You be good, not cause Zarrenia to hurt you,* she told Varren.

Varren gave her a nod of her head. She looked around at all the blocks on the blanket. *You know other words?* she asked.

*We teach if you be good,* Ikekia told her, getting a smile from Varren.

*Not teach me at school,* she told Ikekia.

Zarrenia nodded and touched her sister. Varren saw the flash of the glow of power.

*Zarry say you need to listen to learn. You not learn if you push all time.*

Varren's eyes suddenly widened. These two made her realize the truth. She could not go to school if she could not listen to the instructors. She turned to look at a very worried Marrat, just off to the side. She gave the signal of one younger to one older and bowed to her caregiver, surprising Marrat.

Marrat crossed the blanket and bowed to the two human children. *What have you learned, Varren?* she demanded.

*That you were correct in not allowing me into school, Marrat,* she Ultar replied. *I wish to learn, Marrat. Will you allow me to do so?*

Marrat paused for a brief moment, smiling at the three children. *Welcome, Shamot Varren.*

Varren raised her snout to the heavens and roared out her happiness, causing the other children to jump in surprise but causing her two new 'friends' to laugh in happiness with her.

*We teach,* Zarrenia said and the three promptly sat down and began to play with alphabet blocks in Asocan while the other children came forward to watch and learn.

Marrat turned to look at the female who had spoken earlier. The female rose and walked over to the Asocan. The female was at least a head shorter than herself yet exuded an air of authority without doing so deliberately despite wearing only a pair of bikini bottoms. Marrat gave her a short bow and the hand signal of one inferior to another.

"I am Dame Junelliya Atohan Herlan, mother to Ikekia and Zarrenia," she declared, Marrat's translator doing its job for her.

"Marrat Mutt Semt, Caregiver for the young. Well met Junelliya. Your clutch has just broken Varren and turned her from an unwieldy youngling into something that I might now be able to teach. I thank you and your clutch for this."

"I am pleased to hear that my children were of some use in this incident. Will you be working at the daycare here at Denders?" Junelliya asked.

"Daycare?" Marrat responded.

"Where the children go to play and learn while their parents do work or play on their own," Junelliya explained.

"Ah, I had no idea such was here. Perhaps I will look in on how you do things here. It would be amusing to see how different races treat their young," Marrat stated.

Junelliya turned and signalled another female. "This is Takebayashi Urano, she will run the daycare during the Summit. The two of you might have much to discuss," Junelliya said, then returned to her seat. Marrat stepped over to where the other females were, staying out of the sun and watching out for Varren with one eye while keeping up conversations on childcare with Urano. The two would become fast friends during the Summit.

The Kumir-Rai/Ro finally relaxed. They had not known what they should do in the face of the threat from a child to the Kumaraie's brood. They would have to go over strategy for this eventuality. They were very grateful that Ikekia and Zarrenia had solved the problem for them.

Unbeknownst to all, another figure had been watching. Varnela-Henad, High Priestess of the Goddess Mada-La-Ail, the Maha-Rrin name for the Goddess that both the Pod-Drran and the Maha-Rrin venerate, had just witnessed something that was tweaking her memory. She knew she had seen something significant but what that might be was just out of her conscious thoughts.

Varnela had followed the Kumar-Pair, their brood, and their guards, to the edge of a sun shelter where she recognized the females of the Piscium family. She saw the Chlaerge ready to defend the one called 'The Light'. But it had not been the Chlaerge who had defended her...it had been the two human children. She looked on at all the humans around her. Their red skins had worried her at first.

Like the Pod-Drran, the Maha-Rrin could see further into the ultra-violet and infra-red than humans could. Because of this, they could see the flow of blood beneath the skin of humans, which tended to make their skin look red in the eyes of the Maha-Rrin. Varnela was sure that the skin colour was the clue she needed. Then she got an idea.

Shaken, Varnela ran to her room, which she shared with another Priestess. She needed to review the Book of Maha-La-Ail. She rushed into the room only to find the other Priestess reading from the book. She roughly and unceremoniously pushed her aside and flipped through the pages to the passage that she needed. She read it through once, then again, and promptly collapsed to the floor.

************

The Pemipinae was in the room with many other ministers. "What has happened?"

"I do not know, Pemipinae," the other Priestess admitted. "The High Priestess came into the room in a rush and literally pushed me from the book, flipping through to this passage, she read it several times and then said something about prophecy and collapsed,"

"Nela-Halda?" the Pemipinae asked of her senior doctor, the Minister for Medical Practices.

"She just keeps repeating 'I have seen prophecy', Pemipinae. She is not responding to questions.

The Pemipinae approached the High Priestess' bed. "Varnela, what have you seen?"

Varnela looked up into the eyes of the Pemipinae, recognition flooded her own. "I have seen prophecy, Pemipinae. The Prophecy of the return..."

"Which prophecy, High Priestess?" a minister demanded.

"The Book of Maha-La-Ail, the Return, Section 21, verse 12 to 16," Varnela mumbled.

The other Priestess opened the book to the passage and began to read:

"In the fullness of time, the Goddess shall be reborn to the people. Her return will be presaged by the return of the Chlaerge.

"There will be four in the brood, two males and two females, though one of the females will not survive long after birth. This brood will be exceptional in its growth, especially its mental growth, more so the female.

"The female will be the Light that will guide the combined people of the Pod-Drran and the Maha-Rrin, who must come together to move forward within the Greater Community.