Date Point: 14Y 2M 1W 5D AV
The Thing, Folctha, Cimbrean
Sister Naydra
It was with some trepidation that Naydra attended a Meeting of Mothers. By all accounts, this was a continuation of a previous Meeting, which wasn’t so unusual—such Meetings were rare and never called for simple reasons that could be easily resolved. What was unusual, however, was that she had been invited specifically—normally, it was Mothers that would attend, not Sisters. The Meeting could invite theoretically anyone they wanted to—when she reached the building, shimmering in the afternoon sun, though, she realized why.
Myun was waiting for her outside, standing apart as well as head and shoulders above the rest of the congregation. On seeing her, Myun beckoned her over urgently.
“Sister! I am so glad to see you again, and looking well,” she said quietly.
“I am…healing, I think,” Naydra said. Myun duck-nodded, her ears set in sorrow.
“I wanted you here specifically. I’ve been asked to speak as well, but you’ve had experience that is…well, relevant, and it’s experience I believe this group needs badly to hear.”
They filed in, trying and utterly failing to blend with the rest of the crowd—Naydra because she didn’t feel like she belonged, and Myun because she simply intimidated her way through the crowd. Nobody seemed to want to be in the way of the massive young Guard-Captain, although she was actively trying to be polite.
They entered, and sat together, watching the hall fill. An elderly Mother with white fur and silver whiskers stumped to the middle of the central floor and stood, awaiting the seating of all of the Mothers attending. Finally, she rapped on the floor with the butt end of a wooden staff until the chatting, chittering, and noise of feet had stopped, and the hall was still.
“This Meeting of Mothers is called back to order. We meet to continue to discuss a Question; shall the Clan of Females formally ask the human colony of Folctha for aid in permanently establishing a Colony of Females upon the world of Cimbrean?”
“When this body last met, we heard many arguments, for and against this Question. We risk insulting Stoneback by building a home away from Gao. We were sent, and are continuing to be sent in massive numbers, here from Gao as quickly as the infrastructure here is built to handle our numbers, by Great Father Daar. We do not know how long it may be before Gao is again safe for Females—Great Father has promised us a return to our ancient homes, but cannot say when.”
“We begin with testimony from Mother Myun, Guard-Captain for the Mother-Supreme. Myun, come up if you please.” Myun was already standing, a graceful, elegant, and imposing sight as she stalked forward into the center and stood to address the crowd.
“Thank you, Mother Ginai. Sisters, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you how things stand upon our homeworld now. There must be no misunderstanding—Gao is not a safe place for Females right now, and it may never again be as safe as it was before the attack began.”
She began to pace back and forth as she spoke. “Sisters, there are multiple dangers now upon Gao for Females. The Implanted continue to target us, to target our cubs, first of all in an effort to destroy both our present and our future in one blow. Would-be Clans of males are springing up, and Females are becoming …currency. Hunger and disease are rampant, despite the best efforts of our Males and of the Humans.”
“Even if, today, every Implanted was laid to rest, and we were certain that none remained behind, still we would have to fear the unfocused aggression and predation of the strong upon the weak. I brought with me a Sister who has experienced this brutality first hand, and to whom we must all listen.” She beckoned Naydra up, and Naydra found herself rising almost involuntarily, walking out to the middle of the floor almost dreamlike. Myun leaned down to her and spoke quietly.
“Just tell them all what happened to you. You don’t have to give them details, but, they need to hear it from you, Sister. I will be right here, next to you.” Naydra turned, nervously, and saw the room staring back at her with rapt and expectant eyes.
“I…am Naydra. Sister Naydra. I was captured by a group of Clanless following a vicious and stupid male who was a serial labor clan reject. He, and the males that followed him,” she paused, swallowing into a dead silence, “…gang-raped my sisters until several of them died. Koruum, however, laid claim to me the day I arrived, and forced himself upon me multiple times daily for a month.”
Naydra’s eyes really saw the room suddenly—the shock, the horror, the compassion, the sorrow, the anger, the rage…it was all there, every bit as much as she’d smelled in the room with Great Father Daar. It strengthened her.
“Sisters… Great Father Daar asked me many times if I was absolutely certain that none of the males in that would-be Clan deserved mercy, and pleaded with me not to watch their punishment, but in the end, I was certain they did not, and I did. I…wish now I had heeded Great Father’s warning, because the cost of doing what had to be done to ensure that their example was both public and extreme was a high one.”
“Sisters, we cannot ask this of Stoneback. We, all of us, love our Males and the cubs we are charged with protecting far too much to lay the burden of enforcing such things upon them. Great Father Daar sent us to the arms of the Humans for protection while he destroys the monsters that did this to us, and in his name, I entreat this Meeting to see the truth.”
“We must form a home here, because there is no other home for us now. Not now, and maybe never again. Great Father knows this. He…” She paused, gathered her courage, and continued. “When I was being…debriefed, I asked what he would do. He said to me he would do ‘whatever I wanted.’ Then he proved it. He did an awful thing in my…in our name. For us. He continues to do awful things. And Sisters…Mothers…it is killing him to do it. I only met with him briefly afterwards but there is a sorrow about him…”
Myun placed an enormous and comforting paw on her shoulder lightly. Naydra went on. “I will not let his anguish be for nothing. He wants us safe. I would be safe, here, where I will never again be touched by a male unless I invite him. That safety…does not exist on Gao.”
The murmur of approval that swept the hall prevented her from going on, and in a way it was a relief to take her seat. Myun returned to the center to speak, apparently not finished.
“Sisters, I am Mother Myun, and I speak for this Question. You have heard the testimony of a survivor. Understand something. There are millions more Mothers still trapped on Gao; as fast as the Great Father can send us through, time and the reality of things prevent him from freeing all. Even if he were able to, they would have to remain in the quickly-growing tent cities on Gao, surrounded on all sides by dust, ash, ruin, and terror.”
“We must form a Home for the Females here upon Cimbrean. There are no other choices.” Myun walked back to her seat, and sat.
Mother Ginai looked around the hall. “Thank you, Mother Myun. Are there others who would offer thoughts on this Question?” The hall was silent.
“Then I call this Question, and ask for a vote by acclamation: shall the Clan of Females formally ask the human colony of Folctha for aid in permanently establishing a Colony of Females upon the world of Cimbrean?” The answering bark of approval was deafening.
“Is there dissent?” Silence.
“Then we have a consensus. We will petition the Mother-Supreme and the Great Father to so ask the human colony of Folctha. We are adjourned.”
Date Point: 14Y 2M 3W 3D AV
Folctha Colony Amphitheatre, Folctha, Cimbrean
The Israeli earth-moving teams had been busy over the last two months, between putting down actual gravel on the roadways through the camps to rein in the daily issue of a gooey, sticky mud encrusting everything as well as building up actual earthworks to delineate base boundaries and sidewalks in every direction. One mysterious project that the IDF engineers had thus far refused to discuss beyond the obvious, however, was an enormous amphitheatre just outside of Camp 2 where it overlooked the city, carved out of a natural divot in the hilltop. It was clearly not intended to be short-term, as much of the rest of their work had been—this had the air of permanence, with good-sized stone blocks lining the pathways and providing seating for a huge amount of spectators. Rammed earthworks formed a stage, as well as a wall at the top that was less a barrier and more a declaration that this was where the seating began. The acoustics were as nearly perfect as possible, enabling even a speaking voice at the bottom to be heard at the top row.
It was with some interest that the Gaoian Mothers watched this develop, but once it became obviously some kind of place for performances, they discussed it informally amongst themselves and decided that if the Humans wanted to surprise them with something, it was probably best to let them, or even pretend they hadn’t noticed—the consensus was that properly managing Humans was much like managing males. Most of the skillset transferred over nicely.
An announcement went out, once it appeared that the amphitheatre was completed. The handbills were in Gaoian and English, and advertised an “Evening of Music with the Israeli Philharmonic” from Tel Aviv…and, apparently, accompanied by “guests” from the Israeli Defense Forces, although little more information than that was given.
The performance was scheduled early enough in the evening that the piece would be concluded, and everyone should have time to return home before the nightly downpour started. As the sun began to descend towards the horizon, the audience assembled; almost all Gaoian, but there were a considerable number of Humans present as well. Some of the more sharp-eyed noted the four tents immediately behind the musicians’ places as seemingly out of place, but there was no indication given what they were or why they were there.
Right on time, the performers began to assemble, the seats in the audience all full to capacity and then some. Most adults, of both races, had at least one or two cubs on their lap, and Bozo, the SOR mascot attending with Major Powell and several of the Operators, was at the bottom of a slowly-squirming pile of fuzzy. The conductor for the Philharmonic came out last in a black tuxedo, and walked to the center of the stage, waiting for the buzz to die down.
“Ladies, gentlemen, and honored guests, We present to you the first of several pieces we intend to play for you tonight, Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanæ cantoribus et choris cantandæ comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis, a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff. There are two other compositions we will perform for you tonight as well, and we’d normally list them on a Playbill, but…we would like to surprise you. Enjoy.” He bowed with a flourish, turned, and the music began.
After the concert
Gyotin found himself walking out of the amphitheatre just ahead of a good-sized group of cubs with a Mother that looked familiar. He cast his thoughts back several months as he slowed to match pace with them. The cubs, particularly the older male ones, were waxing enthusiastic about the music piece and its …accompaniments.
“It may be difficult to get them to go to sleep tonight,” he said to her. Seela…? Seema? Seema, that was it. She gave him a resigned nod. “What did you think of it? It was very…human, I thought. The finale, particularly.”
Seema said nothing as they walked for a long moment, and he realized she was yawning a little, trying to equalize her inner ear pressure. She was probably sitting closer than I was to the guns. Finally, she replied, “Only humans would turn explosions and enormous cannons into music.”