Wilds Born

I've taken quite ill with a flu. So if something in the author's note seems... drunken... please ignore it. Having spent yesterday brain addled I woke almost okay but it will last about as long as my first coffee so I figured I'd update since I'm late.

There's someone here from the last story who just. Nothing ever happened with her. The end of the first half seems like a cliff hanger but I didn't manage to work it that way and quite a few of you know who it is, having read the name. For those who don't, El gives a marvellously fast explanation.

The journalist is a bit odd. Apparently she hasn't got much of a connection to El besides being sympathetic to his plight. She's across the nation, in another city, so it's not like El can just run into her on the street.

I'm goanna go curl in a ball and go comatose for a while.

Read, Review and Enjoy.




Nu awoke to a blurry world. He had to concentrate hard before his eyes cleared up and everything came into focus once more. Yao was reading on her flat screen, she was in a nice little outfit. A full length item made of some sort of dark blue material. As he sat up, she set her flat screen to the side and smiled at him.

“You weren’t supposed to be able to see the light, it caused temporary damage to your retina, but like a bruise, it will heal. How do you feel?”

“Blind,” Nu murmured, rubbing his eyes.

“Don’t,” Yao took hold of his wrist and pulled his hand away from his eye, “rub at it, or you will make it worse and it will last longer. An hour or so and you should be able to see alright, but you may have a bit of irritation for a few days.”

“Are you wearing something special?” Nu asked, dropping his hands to his lap, “is there an occasion happening that I should know about?”

“Yes, we are going to the Ishteshtin compound,” Yao said quietly, “you have to come as well, to be introduced to the head of the Ishteshtin family. From there, we hope that we can get his permission to go onto Ishteshtin land to return you to your tribe. Or at least take you to your tribe so that you can see them and they can see you. You can come back with us, if you want, but auntie said that you need to see your family again.”

“Who is the Ishteshtin head of house?” Nu asked, sitting up in his bed, “is this Joral’s successor?”

“I.” Yao paused and frowned, then shook her head, “have no idea who Joral is. I need you to put on a shirt and button it almost to the top, not right to the top. And of course pants. But first I need you to use the shower.”

He didn’t mind the shower so much, it somewhat reminded him of the waterfall that was by his home. The healing room had several showers in one room that was attached to it. In this room Nu washed each night, as Yao instructed him to. In the wilds he would wash every couple of days. It wasn’t like any of the tribe really smelled, but for those going through puberty.

As Yao instructed, he went to the room and washed with the soap she gave him and then dried with the towel she gave him. None of this had any smell to it at all. Even the soap didn’t smell like chemicals. It was.

Weird.

He dressed in brand new clothing that didn’t even smell like clothing. Yao combed his hair with a little thing, being very careful to get all the knots out and to make it look nice. As she did so, he realised that Yao had almost no smell to her either. The young woman usually smelled, well, like a young woman should. A heady aroma that Nu found comforting despite how much Yao annoyed him with her insistence that he wear shirts and other restricting clothing.

She led the way to a car. Nu had never been inside one before, and as he slid into the vehicle he was informed that El would meet them there later in the night. He had some sort of appointment or interview or something that couldn’t wait until after the meeting with the head of household.

Evera looked upset but said nothing as she carried on several conversations through multiple flat screens built into the back seat of the car. Nu sat out of the way and out of sight, keeping quiet. He understood that this was political things. Reporters and journalists jumping on some incident that happened and making accusations which Evera quietly and demurely answered.

As the car pulled into a gated, high fenced and well guarded compound, Evera said her goodbyes and made many excuses about charity benefits. Once the screens were off, she sat back and put a hand to her head, just for a moment. The way mother did when she was feeling for a temperature. Evera took something out of her purse and popped it into her mouth, swallowing it dry before she murmured something about having a headache. Yao made a sound at the back of her throat and seemed hardly interested.

In all his time, Nu had never seen someone have a headache. Mother had mentioned them, had warned power users about the possibility of causing such an ache in the head. But being one who had had alterations to her genetic code, should Evera not have been so well created that she had no such problems? Nu didn’t have the chance to ask about it as the door opened and Evera slid out.

Yao followed closely behind and Nu, because he knew he had to, tagged along. He stuck close to the young female, knowing that she would not lead him astray and was not distracted by ‘headaches’ or other such problems.

The pair of them led the way up steps and into a huge, white building. Inside the building they were greeted by not one, not two, but three elders. Old people who used their valuable time to greet guests! Nu thanked each of them and touched the back of their right hands ever so gently to enforce his gratitude before he followed Yao and Evera down the hall.

“Why did you do that?” Yao asked.

“Because they are elders and one should always respect elders,” Nu said, “why, does civilization not respect those who have many life lessons and much to teach us? Or do you simply ignore them and shuttle them off where they cannot be seen? And if so, why? Why shuttle off what you do not like, what is odd or off a tree when one should accept what is odd for being what it is? The greatest thinkers of all times were considered mad by their own generation. Who are you to say what is and isn’t mad?”

Yao blinked at Nu, not certain how to answer. Instead, it was Evera who spoke, “I believe he is feeling self conscious. We are meeting the technical head of his house.”

Nu lowered his head, only to be tapped lightly on his shoulder. He turned and met the eyes of one of the elders who had greeted him. She curtsied.

“My name is Alla,” she bent her head, “I am a ninth generation. Please, tell me, how is Mei?”

“Mei is fine,” Nu said in response, not understanding what was going on, but going along with it, “he is big now,” he could only assume that Alla had known Mei when the elder was a little one, “many children and a good, strong mate who boxes his ears at least once a moon for being too much of a gossip. He has several grandchildren on the way now and is going gray. I suspect that my children will have children before he is too old to enjoy life.”

Alla smiled, tears welling up in her eyes, “that is good to hear. Please, excuse me.” and she rushed off.

“You. Know her?” Evera asked.

“No,” Nu shook his head, “Mei has spoken often of a woman whose company he enjoyed. Sometimes he talks like she was his mother, sometimes like she was something else. Perhaps this Alla is the one who arranged for great-elder to adopt Mei. That fell through though, and great-elder’s brother adopted Mei instead. But no one likes talking about the brother.”

“This way,” Yao murmured, “elders are seen as too old to do more than be greeters. They don’t do anything else. Alla was likely a nanny, considering the fact that she just curtsied to a stranger. No one, Nu, greets elders. They are part of the background, just as one doesn’t comment about a child with a stain on his shirt from eating.”

“That is a stupid rule,” Nu grumbled, “my siblings and I were raised listening to the elders speak.”

“Shh,” Evera said as they stepped up to a closed door. She turned and straightened Nu’s shirt, “none of that for the moment. Let me do the talking, okay?”

Nu nodded and Evera turned to the door. She opened it and stepped into a small study lined with books. There was a little desk and several chairs. Behind the desk stood a man with greying hair and eyes like mother’s. He was broad at the shoulders and tall, but not as big as father was. As the three of them entered the study, the man’s eyes shifted from Evera, to Yao, to Nu. Upon seeing Nu he almost said something but managed to contain himself and turn his attention to Evera instead.

“Evera.”

Evera turned and closed the door before she turned back to the man, “head of Ishteshtin household. I’ve come to call on a favour. A huge one.”

“And which huge favour shall you be calling in?” the man asked, one eyebrow arching as he folded his hands behind his back.

Evera motioned to Nu, “I think you know which one I mean, Layaent.”

***

“Don’t forget to redo the locks,” El said to his new secretary. Female, top rank in the company and. Get this.

Trying to get pregnant the old fashioned way but failing at it. It was like mother wanted to use El to breed specific people and thus placed them with him. Sad, really, that was what it was. This one was ten years into her fertile life period and had been trying to get pregnant the entire time. Her husband was an idiot and weak of will, likely of mind as well and not much of a looker to boot. But she loved him with all her heart and was still attracted to him after twenty years of marriage.

Stupid.

“The genetic folders need to be on my desk by the morning and don’t forget to check with the labs about the recent studies. I need you to write a mass message to the other companies stating that the government is infiltrating as well as a hexicode locked system is needed to be placed over all medical supplies. Write a letter to Ploin and get them to recreate whatever it was that my mother ordered from them,” he tied his tie and growled as it settled wrong, yanking it off once more he sighed, recalling something else, “and call the cleaners, there’s a crack in the tile in the lobby now and it is suspiciously bloody. It doesn’t bode well for tourists to be told how mother had some man’s legs broken for stealing.”

“Just his kneecaps, those are replaceable.”

“…” was all he could say. The woman was a bit more dominant than his past secretaries, which could have been part of mother’s experiment. Which was also why she walked over to him, pulled his tie out of his hand and looped it around his neck, tying it properly before she straightened his jacket and stepped back to inspect him, “I will be inaccessible for the rest of the night, going to the Ishteshtin compound. Take messages and hold all calls. If someone named Ift calls go ahead and tell him you’re hanging up, then hang up on. If he calls back inform security.”

“Who is Ift?” she asked, blinking those big, gray eyes of hers.

“Husband of my ex, ex-secretary. Two secretaries ago,” El grumbled, “thinks I got his wife pregnant. Get’s a gorgeous kid and throws a fit at me. No, it’s not mine. I don’t sleep with my secretaries.” he paused in thought, “well… except for that one time. And he was male.”

“Gay, got it.” she nodded quickly, then glanced over his shoulder, to the clock on the wall, “you are going to be later than you planned, if you don’t leave right away.”

“Shoot,” he muttered, running from the office. As he was waiting for the elevator, the new secretary approached him and held out his wrist watch. The fanciest, newest gadget on the market, he had hacked it in three hours so that he could access any flat screen within a ten mile radius. Amusing but only useful very rarely. He nodded to her and took it just as the door dinged and opened, “thank you.” he said, stepping onto the elevator.

“Be nice!” she said as the doors closed.

That made no sense. He was always nice.

The elevator went down to the ground floor, where he walked through the lobby and around the odd colouring on the floor. Turned out, mother’s orders had ended in blood. And screaming.

And the government threatening a lawsuit, but really, who had the time to actually press charges, or the money to wage war on a genetic company who owned half the city?

El climbed into the awaiting vehicle and was immediately called by three different people. Fuck. He pulled up the calls and looked from one, to another, to another. All were journalists and all had questioned him before about his mother’s actions.

“Broken knees?” one said as the others watched intently.

“He stole from us.”

“Call the law,” said another.

This was the way they worked, hoping to catch him off guard, but it made him relax. Multiple things, he could handle. Ask him to focus on one problem and one person and he somehow managed to screw it up, “what exactly can I expect the government to do for me? Honestly. They would rather charge me with the crimes of people who I am not even technically related to. They want me to be their slave because some Meita and some idiot who happened to birth my brilliant mother, fucked up.

“No.”

“No? That’s your answer?”

“That is my answer, no. When the government proves that it can rule fairly, that it will rule as it should, then maybe I will call them. Common citizens call the government and are shot on sight. Commoners call the government and go missing, why would I call the government about a thief that came from their own ranks?”

All were silent. All stared at him. El almost laughed, but huffed out a breath instead.

“Did they forget to tell you that part? It was their man. Stealing medication and the genetic code of a good friend of mine. You know what that is? That’s genetic rape. How about we call up the Ishteshtin head of household and ask how he believes genetic rape should be handled, since he’s the one who rallied for stronger laws against such a crime. By the government or not, it is rape. We can only be thankful that my friend does not yet know of these facts and can live in blissful ignorance of the government’s stupidity.”

“Where are you headed tonight?” the third asked, finally speaking.

“The Ishteshtin compound,” he responded quietly, settling back in his seat, “my mother has asked for my presence, very likely so that she and I could discuss genetic rape with the head of household. The lesson here is very simple. Don’t rob Gomesh Genetics. Of course, I should add, that stealing a pencil will not result in breaking knees. And.”

Because his mother had wanted to. Because now, thinking about it, putting the terms to it. He was pissed. The government had tried to take away Nu’s legal rights to his own genetic code, the code that not even Gomesh Genetics could use. So he said it, yeah, he did that crazy thing he wasn’t really supposed to do, but always got such a kick out of doing anyway.

“Had I had my way, I would have cut off the bastard’s head, cut off his balls and sent them via courier back to the government. Let them foot the bill and see if they got the message. Don’t steal from Gomesh Genetics. We will. Fuck you up.”

He leaned forward and ended two of the conversations, leaving the third up. The third wasn’t exactly a friend of his, but she was someone that El knew he could control. At least moderately so.

“My secretary was the one who did it. Leak that and the fact that if I find him, I will kill him and I will nail his hands to the senate doors. That sounds so. Old of me. Like, ancient times. But. It’s just how I feel.”

“A good friend?” she asked, scribbling down information, “I have word that Gomesh Genetics went into the wilds with three people and returned with four. Would you hide a wilds born person?”

“Yes, of course we would. The question people should ask is not would we do it. Because if we found someone near dead in the wilds, you’re damned right we would bring them back. They should ask, would Gomesh Genetics do anything, anything at all, to reveal a wilds born person to the world and why would they? I get enough trouble for being wilds blood. If we have a person who was born in the wilds, who we found in the wilds. We wouldn’t tell any of you until that person was back in the wilds.”

Which was him telling her, without actually telling her, what had happened. She pressed her lips together for a long moment, then sighed out.

“I could make millions off of what you actually tell me. Look. I can spin this against the government, no problem. But it’s not going to do anything. You won’t step up to replace them.”

“Why. Why would I replace them? No one trusts them and if I took their place, no one would trust me! For good reason. I’m built as an alpha, but I’m not built to rule a nation. There are too many variables in a nation. Too many bitchy, whiney people. Oh, God, I have to pay taxes to get mail! Oh noes! Heaven forbid I pay for ambulances or medical expenses. Despite the fact that I refuse to allow public health to rule.

“I mean, it’s not like the genetic companies are literally saying that they would treat people for free or anything,” he concluded sarcastically before he sighed, “I just. I don’t like stupid people, I can’t handle them. In a small group, hell, in a company even. Someone does a stupid, I can grab the idiot by the neck and express my dominance and that’s the end of it. What am I supposed to do with a group of people so many that I couldn’t take them all?”

She sighed, “we need a change and the people love you, El. You’re absolutely and brutally honest. The women want to sleep with you, the men want to sleep with you. The few who don’t want to crawl into your bed and beg you to hurt them want to be you. What more could you possibly want?”

“Someone who doesn’t want me just because in this world, in this reality, in this existence, I am the most dominant soul. Out in the wilds, I would be nothing. If I find someone to settle down with, it will be out there.” he sighed out as the car pulled to a stop, “what is the point of all this technology, really? We’ve left our God behind. We’ve left our magic behind. The things that make our heart race and our souls soar. We as a people, have nothing left to lose besides our lives. We’ve already destroyed our own culture. Only reason we aren’t fat, diseased and completely stupid is because some clever guy figured out how to splice and dice our genetic code.”

She smiled and he groaned.

“Do not leak that.”

“I have to. I love it. We’ve abandoned that which makes our hearts race and our souls soar, how can we be a people with no culture.”

“You’re editing my words.”

“It’s what you said, made so that everyone can love it,” she smiled at him, “go to your meeting thing. If I’m still up later, I’ll call you. Then you can deny any involvement in something or the other and I’ll be all cranky about it!”

The screen went blank and he spent a moment collecting himself before he climbed out of the car.

The Ishteshtin compound was not what it had been a hundred year previous. More wire, more gates. More guards. Tweaker guards volunteering to walk the perimeter to protect their genetic family. Volunteering. As in not being paid, as in the Ishteshtin cared for their tweaker family in such a way that that family was willing to lay its life on the line for them. For free.

But the Ishteshtin refused to rule a nation. Which was the problem. Each genetic line ruled their little plot of land but none of them wanted to rule the nation. They cared for themselves, their genetic company, their tweaker family and any commoners who were caught up in their territory as best they could. Each family had its failings, had its strong points. Other families had to rent out guards or hire them, raise them even, in the case of the Toleran family. Not the Ishteshtin.

There were security systems galore. The only reason they, his mother and him, could get onto the grounds would a cavity search was because his mother knew the Ishteshtin family. Really, really knew them. She had several favours that should could call in at any time with them, hence, all the guards knew El and his mother and allowed them to basically come and go as they pleased.

He walked up the steps and into the building. There he was greeted by three elders. One was wiping her watery eyes as he approached them and nodded. Not really, understanding, he walked towards the head of household’s study and was stopped by the watery eyed one.

“You. Were you one of the ones who brought that boy back. The one that is from the dog tribe?” she asked, clutching at her kerchief as if it were the only thing keeping her sane.

“… yes,” he said, frowning, not understanding at all. Why was she talking to him, usually the elders only spoke to those who did not meet the requirements for greeting one of the Ishteshtin line.

She breathed in deeply, shuddering as she did so, “when you take him back. Take me with you?”

Startled, El pulled away from the elder, “what?” he asked, not certain he had heard her correctly.

“Take me with you. I should have gone years ago when it was first offered but I had so many orphans to look after and then the war happened. It just. I never.” she sighed out and looked like she was going to start crying again, “I never,” and she burst into tears, “thought he had survived and couldn’t bear the thought of finding out that he was actually dead and now the boy says that he’s alive.”

“If I can.” he said quietly, he had no idea what she was talking about, had she spoken to Nu? Was he really that late? “I will take you out to the wilds.” orphan, orphan, he could do this. Just pull a name out of the air and hope to God it was right, “and. To. Mei?”

“Oh, thank you, thank you so much!” she shuffled off, sniffling to herself as she went.

El stood rooted in place for a moment longer before he shook his head and proceeded to the study. He knocked once, then entered and closed the door behind him. As he looked around the room, he got the distinct feeling that he had just walked into something very uncomfortable. The head of household looked like he had just swallowed something sharp and prickly. Mother looked mildly amused and Nu was a bit vacant.

“Did I miss something?” he asked Yao as he slipped up beside her.

Yao shrugged, “mother greeted him by name and all of a sudden the three of them got quiet.”

“What’s,” El winced as he struggled to remember, “his name?”

“Layaent.”

“Oh. Fuck.” El grumbled as Layaent’s eyes shifted from Nu, to him. Anger flared there and he knew he was in trouble. Layaent was a top dog kind of guy. The head of the Ishteshtin household, he was the one that Gomesh genetics had to bow to. The company catered to the Toleran but resided in Ishteshtin territory, this made for a very delicate political system, “Layaent is the oldest of the tenth generations Ishteshtin and the brother of Shin and Taya Ishteshtin. Rumoured to be the lover of Ash Toleran and of Bri, the commoner. Bi-sexual, four children and, oddly enough, the most dominant of the tenth generation.”

Nu’s head snapped from an upright position, to a curious sort of half-cocked one, “Taya is my mother.”

“Well, there goes the delicate situation,” mother growled, stepping between Nu and Layaent.

“I know.” Layaent murmured in response to Nu.

To which mother snarled, “so much for having the upper hand. You know?”

“I visited every year up until four years ago,” Layaent said quietly, “I’ve put it to my oldest son to carry on with the tribe and the ring bearer.”

“Which is amusing,” El responded, “as he’s right here.” and a motion to Nu, who held up his right hand to show off the ring. Layaent’s eyes narrowed to pin points, “he washed up on shore beaten severely.”

“Syano,” Layaent growled, turning his attention to Nu, “I begged Shin to let me take that bastard to town but Shin insisted that I let him be.”

“Whoa,” El held up a hand, “back up, how do you know who did it when we don’t know who did it?”

“Who else would, is the question,” Layaent motioned for them to sit and, once they had settled in, sat himself and continued on, “Syano is the only one who would be stupid enough to attack the ring bearer. I know of him because I know the tribe. I recognised Nu. My son brought back your name. It means-”

“Expression of great relief,” Nu murmured, “I am aware of what my name means, yes. I have not. Met you, or heard of you. Why… you know so much about my tribe but never have I see your face before, never before have I heard the utterance of the name Layaent.”

Layaent looked like a man who had prepared himself for this conversation but had never expected to have it, “I chose to remain away from the tribe. I chose to be apart from it. After my children were grown I was supposed to join the tribe. But war happened, civilian uprisings, the destruction of the pure breeds happened. Even Ash’s parents never made it to the wilds, never. Never got to see their son again. They died in a government internment camp, trying to rescue power users and I never even told Ash that. Didn’t have the heart, perhaps.”

“Great-elder died after you stopped visiting, then. And I’ve never met your son.”

“He’s been meeting with your father instead of you. Nu, you’re young, you don’t understand what it’s like for us. I’m nearly immortal now, for one of your generations I might age a year. A year. Do you know what it’s like to sit by and watch your younger brother grow old and die? I used to change his diapers. I taught him how to write and then I watched him grow old before his time and die. I am forced to sit on the sidelines and watch my baby sister turn gray. Your sisters look exactly like her.

“But one day she will die and. I can’t handle that.”

“You could die too.” Nu said quickly, “everyone can die. Just as everyone must give up their children. Father has a saying. Only taxes and death are assured in life. Though. I don’t understand it and he said it only really applies if one is in civilization because we are a communist community and live fully and productively as such. But then he wouldn’t explain what a communist is. I assume it is a place where everyone shares and no one says that this or that is theirs because it belongs to everyone. I. Guess.”

“Mysh is a bit of a hard knock when it comes to terms like that,” Layaent murmured, making an odd motion with his hands. The rest of the body seemed to imply that his words were a lie, “I could stop taking the serum that makes me immortal but to what end? Our people are still here, suffering under government rule because of my brother’s decisions.”

“That is untrue!” Nu leapt up from his seat, “they are suffering from their own decisions. Great-elder never wanted the ring. He never wanted to rule and he never wanted to be a part of your world or your stupid society. He didn’t want to exchange pieces of paper with no value for things of value. He wanted freedom. He wanted only his own heart as his guide. The people can be free.”

“They cannot.”

“Fine. Their children can be.”

“Nu, you’ve no idea what you speak of. This is a people who have lived for generations in a civilization. Generations of being catered to. Generations apart from farms and even from you!” Layaent stood, almost a head taller than Nu, even El expected the smaller male to back down.

Instead, Nu advanced on the desk and leaned closer to Layaent, “then your people and my people must be two different people. Your brother walked away from civilization. Your sister walked away from civilization. They survived. A broken tweaker and an inappropriate nanny can survive but those bred for their roles cannot? Then those who follow like blind sheep, bleating their obedience can wander off the cliff and die.

“Let the strange, let us. Let the broken hearted and the damaged and the poorly created genetic alterations rule where none of you are brave enough to follow. We are the people of God and when the short people come to slaughter you all, you will beg for us to save you and we will leave you to your fate.”

That made Layaent back down. The head of the Ishteshtin household swallowed and said, “what?”

“The short people. Great-elder didn’t tell you? Wonder why. Probably because brother abandoned him. Told me though, told me good and right. Short people don’t beat their drums all the time now. When they do beat them, they aren’t beating out like a big animal. More like an angry nest of wasps. Bzzzz, they go. Heading for you and your stupid tall people.”

“No. Not for another nine hundred years, the closest projections-”

“They are coming now.”

“But the closest projections-”

“They are a warring people, do you think they care about your stupid projections? What they care about is the land of milk and honey, their heaven on earth, promised to them by their god. By our God because we abandoned Her and now She has abandoned us with one hope for salvation.” Nu huffed out and straightened, “your shirts are stupid, you never see daylight and you think that all born in the wilds are stupid idiots. Capture my brain in a flat screen. I could talk you under the table but I chose not to. Just because you’re behind a fancy desk, just because you have a nice title and a house with walls to protect you from the outside does not mean that you. Know. Best.

“Civilized or not, you can be wrong.”

Yao watched this exchange and suddenly stepped between the two males, she held up a finger to both, as if asking them to wait, “Layaent has a point, Nu, we cannot transfer all people to the wilds. But at the same time, Nu has a point, Layaent. All genetic companies have been reporting a sudden lack of sound in the forest. Most of the foot workers don’t know what sound is missing, but know that something is missing. At the same time, El has a good point,” she paused and glanced at El, who tried very hard not to be noticed by the sparing males. He hadn’t actually spoken that idea, though he had been thinking it.

“Let the stupid people die. Move those who want to be moved. Move them now and move them fast. Which brings us back to why we are here,” she turned her full attention to Layaent, “we need your permission to travel over your land to visit Nu’s tribe. While, according to Nu’s belief, we don’t need your permission, we chose to seek it because that’s just being polite.”

“I give you permission,” Layaent murmured easily, “however. I won’t accept any favours called in for it. Evera. Darling, you know what I want, have wanted for several years.”

“He has a mind of his own, Layaent. On that note, oddly,” mother muttered, frowning, “someone tried to genetically rape Nu today. I broke his knees.”

“I referred the journalists to you,” El said quickly, “and may have suggested that I would have cut off his head, took his balls and mailed the trio to the government via courier. Or. Something. What. Is it exactly. That Layaent wants?”

“You,” Layaent said, “I want you.”

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