Attempting to make friends (2)

The doors at the far end of the multi-purpose room slammed shut. Already other students were gathering to see what had happened. Sounds of hushed voices and germinating rumors filled the room.

Ilrica dropped down from the ceiling and landed amongst the crowd, light as a feather. "I guess that means the other team forfeited. You win by default, Trahzi."

Trahzi turned back to Gerald, her eyes on fire. "You are a very poor instructor."

Gerald's muscular arms fell down. "You're right. I don't know why I thought I could do this. You need professional help. Like, a trained expert. There must be someone else we can get to..."

"No," she insisted. "We did not separate this body to live alone amongst the others only to have our mission fail."

He looked up. "So wait, this is the first time any of you have physically separated yourselves from the others?

"Yes. Up until now we have always moved from place to place as a group. This body is the first to live alone."

"Do you know what that will do? Like, what will happen?"

"Since it has never been tried before, we cannot be sure what will happen. However, the risk seems acceptable compared to what we stand to gain."

"And what is that?"

She tiled her head, as if the answer should have been obvious. "Peace. If there is to be a standing peace between us and the others, we must first learn to understand you. That is why we are here."

Gerald found his resolve renewed. "Peace is... a worthy cause."

He took a moment to clear his thinking, and then he smiled. "Okay, we'll keep trying."

She smiled as well. It caught him a little off guard. Her smile was... surprisingly beautiful. There was no other way to say it. She was terrifying in nearly every way he could conceive, but her smile... wasn't.

"We should have you smile more," he suggested.

It was then that one of the students stepped out from the crowd and tucked his large elephant-like ears over his shoulders.

"Hey demon," Tomar spat. "What the frakk did you just do to my classmates?"

"We are trying to make friends with them," Trahzi explained.

"Pffft, friends? We could never be friends with a Trahzi."

Several of the students chimed in likewise.

"Why?" Trahzi asked curiously. It was hard for Gerald to tell through the translator, but it didn't seem like she was being sarcastic. She sincerely didn't seem to understand.

Tomar scoffed. "Why? Do you know how many people you killed during the war?"

"Yes, nine-hundred twenty four trillion, three-hundred seventy six billion, seven-hundred eighty eight million, one-hundred fifteen thousand, five-hundred and eleven."

A wave of outrage passed through the crowd.

"It sickens me that you can spout off a number like that so casually," Tomar yelled. "We all lost family during the war. I lost a brother and three uncles. Do you have any idea how much pain you caused?"

"We were unaware that we were doing any harm."

Tomar's jaw dropped open. "How is that possible? How could you not understand?"

"At that time, we assumed that the other races were like us. We did not understand that each individual had their own mind and will."

"What?"

"Think of it like your body. You don't really have a concept of your finger or your toe being distinct from you. They are a part of you. Well, for us, individual Trahzi are like cells in a body. Cells die off and are replaced all the time without being noticed. It is the whole that is important."

"Well, when members of our families die, THAT is noticed!"

The rest of the students yelled in agreement. The air was thick with hostility. Even Ilrica was looking on seriously.

Trahzi help up her hands. "Well, to us, the people we killed were like nothing more than fingernail clippings, or fallen strands of hair. So long as the race itself survived, removing a few cells did no real harm, or so we thought. In fact, we believed we were strengthening the others by cutting out their weaker parts. The parts too weak to defend themselves..."

She trailed off and looked away. An odd expression crossed her face. Almost sadness, almost regret, almost embarrassment. "But, as world after world fell before us, we began to question our cause. We kept expecting to find those who could defend themselves, who could at least come close to matching our strength, but none ever came forward. Even as recently as yesterday we thought anyone who could not equal us physically had no right to exist."

Tomar only stood there and fumed.

"So what changed?" Ungliss asked as he floated above the others in his gaseous form.

Trahzi glanced at Gerald. "That is something we keep to ourselves."

She turned back to Tomar. "We were wrong. We were deceived by the ArchTyrant. And at the Battle of Embers we fought against him. We helped your alliance defeat him. Our whole purpose in transferring this body here as an exchange student to Central Exeter is to begin to build a bridge between our peoples. To make sure that such misunderstandings do not happen again in the future."

Trahzi struggled deeply with the next part.

"We... we are sorry."

The crowd was silent for a long time. Several of the students looked around, not knowing what to do or how to react.

It was Tomar that finally spoke up, his eyes filled with spite.

"You're sorry? And you think that will fix this?"

Trahzi was at a loss. "What would you have us do?"

Tomar's orange eyes narrowed. "Die."

"What?"

"You heard me, demon. Go off and die."

Trahzi looked unsure. "How would our ceasing to exist help you now? The dead would still be dead."

"But I would feel better."

"So it is your feelings that are the obstacle?"

Tomar stomped his foot. "Yes, traggit! Feelings, something you could never understand." He thumped his fist against his chest. "When you kill someone we love, it hurts us."

Trahzi's countenance fell. "Love," she repeated, her eyes growing distant.

Tomar held out his hand in derision. "See? She doesn't understand. She can't possibly understand."

"Well, I suppose it makes sense," Trajey offered. "With only a single shared consciousness, the concept of two people loving each other wouldn't be part of their thinking. It wouldn't even occur to them."

Trahzi looked up. "We understand love."

"You do?"

"Yes, love means fondness. We are fond of all living creatures, for they are delicious and bring nourishment to our bodies."

"Yeah, not quite," Gerald admitted.

Tomar laughed cruelly. "See? She doesn't get it. How could she? Face it Trahzi, you'll never understand us. You'll always be our enemy."

This seemed to upset Trahzi deeply. Her black eyes moved back and forth as her mind put the pieces together. "You are right. As long as we cannot understand love, we can never understand you. There will never be peace between our peoples. War will come, again and again. It never bothered us before; we were the strongest. We knew we would win. But, yesterday we felt truly afraid for the first time."

She wrapped her hands around herself as if she felt cold. "For the first time, we felt... concerned that our existence might end. We felt... afraid. Now we comprehend that we cannot just fight against every race that springs up forever. Eventually, a race will come along that will challenge us, even defeat us. When we look out into time, into the countless eons before us, we realize it is bound to happen. A mathematical inevitability. Sooner or later, someone will devise a way to defeat us, and then we will be no more."

Gerald stepped forward and placed his bandaged hand on her arm. To his surprise, it felt quite cool. "But, that's the plan anyway, isn't it?" he said gently. "Isn't that that way things should be? According to you, conflict breeds strength, and the strongest survive, right?"

Her black eyes widened, and her lips parted. "Yes... yes we did believe that. Only now... now that we consider the possibility that we could lose... suddenly that does not seem so appealing to us anymore."

Trahzi lost herself deep in thought. While she did so, Gerald turned to Tomar, his eyes full of sympathy.

"Tomar, do you know what true beauty is in Soeckism?"

"Do I care?"

"You will. True beauty is forgiveness. The most beautiful thing is all the cosmos is not a face, or a star; it is forgiveness."

Tomar struggled with what he was hearing. "What are you saying?"

"People achieve many things, Tomar. But we are at our most noble, we are at our most lovely, when we forgive someone who has hurt us."

Tomar's face was pained. "But, she..."

Gerald walked over and placed his hand on Tomar's shoulder. "I know. But forgiveness does not mean forgiving someone only when we think they deserve it. She has apologized and wants to make amends, but even if she never had, you could still choose to forgive her."

Gerald looked out, his eyes focused. "And when you do... then you find it."

Tomar wiped the forming tears in his eyes. "What is it you find?"

Gerald smiled. "Peace. Stillness. Resonance. Harmony. Like you felt as an infant, knowing neither guilt nor shame. Knowing neither anger nor fear. It's what Soeck called Vashrya."

Tomar shook his head, his large ears flapping about. "I don't know, Gerald. Not everyone can live the way you do."

"Yes, you can, Tomar. As a sentient being, you have more potential than you can even comprehend. You have the ability to become infinite."

Tomar rolled his eyes.

"I know, you have a long way to go, we all do. It's like a seed growing over time. Even a tiny seed can become a great redwood. But, you can grow even more than that seed can. And the first step is to forgive."

Tomar looked up into Gerald's eyes, his heart wavering. "I... I dunno. M... maybe I could... eventually."

Gerald smiled and embraced him warmly. "That is real courage," he praised.

Tomar couldn't help but smile. Already he could feel his heart beginning to heal.

The crowd began to soften. Slowly, the tension flowed out of the room. Several of the students looked at each other, clearly impressed. But none more so than Ilrica. Her gaze was fixed on Gerald, as if she was witness to something she had never thought possible. She caught herself staring, and looked around nervously to make sure no one had noticed. Redonning her facade, she closed her eyes flippantly as if she could care less.

Trahzi breathed in deeply and stood up. All eyes were on her. "We have made a decision," she announced. "We must do something."

"Yes," Gerald said energetically. "This is a chance to mend wounds, to heal hearts. To restore what was lost."

"We must prevent this eventuality," Trahzi continued.

"Yes," Gerald said, growing even more excited. "Through forgiveness, we can restore the bonds which were broken."

Trahzi pointed a black fingernail. "Gerald, we want you to keep teaching us how to make friends."

"Yes, that is a good place to..."

"...We also want you to teach us love."

Gerald froze. "Wait, what?"

Ilrica's emerald eyes shot open in concern. "What did she say?"

* * *

Cha'Rolette threw her tablets aside and shoved Jonarl out of the way. She grabbed the viewfinder and looked through it.

What the frakk did she just say?