| |
“My queen, please, I don’t think you should go. Let me lead the fleet to meet these visitors,” King Naboth said. They were in their private residence at the palace.
“Do not object again,” she said sternly, and he bowed an apology.
Her personal assistant was helping her gather things to take with her. Glancing at the king, she regretted talking to him in that way, at least in front of another male.
“Come, sit with me,” she said, and he followed her to two very plain, straight-backed wooden chairs facing each other in front of a huge fireplace.
“Tell me, Naboth, how long have we been on Batkas?”
His broad brow became even more pronounced. He knew this was one of her tricky questions.
“How long have we been alive?”
“No, how long have we Batkans been on our world, Batkas?”
“Our scientists disagree and seem to keep changing their minds,” he said.
“What is the latest guess?”
He shook his ample head. “I am sorry I don’t know.”
She nodded. “That is probably the truest answer, Naboth. No one really knows. But we are pretty sure our ancestors were not born on Batkas. Do you agree?”
“Yes, my queen.”
She sighed and looked away, first at her assistant busily packing things, then past him and out of the wide, open doors. She could see a portion of the sky even from here. It was a beautiful day. Sunny with only a white, puffy cloud here and there. So tranquil, so ideal. Such a beautiful place to live!
But her gifts told her it had not always been so. She had waking dreams of a very cold, very harsh land. She knew not how long ago in their past it was, but she could feel it sometimes. Even now she shivered a little and thought of ordering a fire be lit in the fireplace. But, she was leaving.
She could feel him staring at her, and refocused on him.
“It’s not that I don’t think you are capable, Naboth. It’s that we both know I am more capable.”
“Yes, my queen. But, you are invaluable! Please forgive me, I just am worried for you! We don’t know who these beings are. We don’t know their intentions.”
“You doubt my gifts?”
“No, no!”
“Then don’t worry. Your job is an important one. You make sure the two princesses are safe. Should your worries come true, they will be needed to take my place.”
“Yes, my queen.”
She looked over at her personal assistant again. He was finished packing, and now stood easily, waiting. It was nearly time to go.
She started to stand up, then decided something and sat back down. She reached out her hands to Naboth, and he gratefully accepted them into his own.
“I will tell you some things. Because I know you are only worrying out of love for me. I feel these beings very strongly. Stronger everyday, as they grow closer. They are coming a long way. And I feel a strong female presence with them. I don’t think she is their queen. But she is the superior in every way. Also, the others, what we think of as animals who are with them. These are like no animals we have on Batkas. They are highly intelligent and accomplished. I sense they were as primitive as we were at one time, but have evolved, as we have.”
He nodded to her. She saw he was in awe of her gifts. As he usually was.
“And they have a fear of what they will find here, and of us. Not a mortal fear, but a nervousness of the unknown, as we have. But they are optimistic, and that is why they are coming. They have a lot of answers we have been searching for, Naboth.”
“And,” she said, letting go of his hands and rising, “they need our help.”
She walked quickly out of the room, her personal assistant following with her things. He looking longingly after her, and put his hands, the hands she had been holding a moment before, on his big chest, over his heart, and closed his eyes.