Re: "Sa Machine Ailée" et autres histoires
Posté : 12 juil. 2020, 14:29
Chapter 4: She Will Come From Elsewhen
The silvery ship was gliding smoothly over the water, cutting through with a precision and poise like no other. It made no motion as it sailed, unlike the rocky Spanish ships Zia had known in her life; it was a peaceful cruise, one that would take them to their destination in no time. It reminded her of the Solaris so much that she felt it pang at her heart, but she kept it silent, for no one would understand it. Though all it took was one look at her bird companion to know that he too was thinking the same thing.
Sitting on a soft chair, watching through the glass windows, Zia was mindlessly petting Pichu with one hand, the other resting on her cheek. She had no real idea of where they were going, aside from the mention of “home”, and it made her somewhat nervous. For this world was nothing like she had envisioned, and it ached to know that all she remember was now but a distant memory. A memory that didn't exist yet.
During their procession to the coast, where the ship was waiting for them, they've seen people. Unlike Kane'Oro and the other dignitaries, who were dressed in rich colors and fine embroidery, those people they've met had nothing but raw linens and animal skins to wear. They were harvesting wild trees and plants for food, whereas her traveling companions ate bread, cured meats and cheeses. They've passed by small wooden settlements that would not handle the test of time, to get to a ship build to last out of metals and rare materials. It was like these people she was now following were entirely different from the rest of the world, a world where humanity had barely begun to bloom into society.
But did she expect anything less from the people of Mu?
She thought at first that they had been reborn. That whatever place she was transported to harbored a bastion of Mu culture, one that had lived the rest of time. But the more she came to see the world outside, the more she realized something was amiss. The more it came to make sense.
Someway, somehow, time had changed. That day she came to find herself abandoned in the desert, she was not transported in another place; she had gone back to a different time. To the distant, forgotten past.
And she didn't know what to think of it.
It all seemed so foreign to her. Was it even possible? Was it all a dream, an invention of her imagination? The feeling of the feathers under her fingers seemed so real, however. The wooden decorations of the ship felt solid, firm under her elbow. Everything appeared clear to her. No, it couldn't be a dream. Even though she wanted to wake up, to find out it was all her imagination, she couldn't.
She sighed, and Pichu ruffled his wings a bit. Looking up, he pecked Zia's fingers gently to catch her attention, and she spared him a glance.
“Hey, buddy.”
“Zia sad?”
She didn't really know what to say, so she simply shrugged a little. She wasn't really sad, it was more like...apathy, perhaps. She could choose to be sad, of course; but what good would it do? She didn't like to waste tears on something so useless as a weird situation. They were to be saved for occasions that deserved them.
Like knowing she'd likely never see her friends again.
“I'm not sad. It's fine, I'm fine.”
She sat up a bit, noticing that she's been slouching. It wasn't good. She mustn't let herself down so much.
“Maybe a little...worried, if anything. But I'm not sad.”
“Tao...Tao, Esteban. Miss him.”
“I miss them too. But we'll get better, won't we? We'll find a way back, it's only a matter of time.”
She gave him a scritch under the beak, and this pleased him for a moment. But then he fluttered out of her grasp, landing on the arm of her chair instead.
“Back, back. On the Solaris!”
“It's true that this ship looks like the Solaris. It was built by the people of Mu, after all...”
In all her reflexions about it, she's never imagined them as such. They were much more...tall than she'd ever have thought. Yet they seemed gentle, unlike the bestial Urubus. She knew they were good people, if not a bit strange. But she's seen stranger in her life.
“Remember the people of Mu! Remember!!”
“It's not really remembering if they're still here.”
She couldn't help a chuckle, recalling her rather embarrassed interaction with Kane'Oro earlier. Oh, how she still cringed at it!
“I'd never thought I'd pronounce such words in my life. But this is true, now.”
She glanced around the room. It was one of the ship's many bedrooms, in which she's been invited to stay during their crossing of the Indian Ocean. Like all the other rooms, it was richly decorated: this one had an agricultural theme, with furniture and walls depicting fruit, strands of grain and more beasts she didn't recognize.
Ten thousand years before her time, the world still struggled to feed itself. People were relying on what they found in the wild to eat, and have not yet learned to sow; yet the civilization of Mu knew of agriculture, of cultivated grain and domesticated animals. The tribe of Ash-Feathers, as she has been told, still subsisted on wild plants despite being the most prominent society in this part of the African continent. Knowing these two civilizations existed within the same timeframe, and even managed to meet, struck her like nothing else. How come she was traveling aboard a powerful sun-powered ship, whereas the rest of the world still sailed on boats of reed and straw? Something felt wrong just thinking of it.
It was unnatural, to be fair.
[...]
The rest over at https://archiveofourown.org/works/25015 ... s/61132480
The silvery ship was gliding smoothly over the water, cutting through with a precision and poise like no other. It made no motion as it sailed, unlike the rocky Spanish ships Zia had known in her life; it was a peaceful cruise, one that would take them to their destination in no time. It reminded her of the Solaris so much that she felt it pang at her heart, but she kept it silent, for no one would understand it. Though all it took was one look at her bird companion to know that he too was thinking the same thing.
Sitting on a soft chair, watching through the glass windows, Zia was mindlessly petting Pichu with one hand, the other resting on her cheek. She had no real idea of where they were going, aside from the mention of “home”, and it made her somewhat nervous. For this world was nothing like she had envisioned, and it ached to know that all she remember was now but a distant memory. A memory that didn't exist yet.
During their procession to the coast, where the ship was waiting for them, they've seen people. Unlike Kane'Oro and the other dignitaries, who were dressed in rich colors and fine embroidery, those people they've met had nothing but raw linens and animal skins to wear. They were harvesting wild trees and plants for food, whereas her traveling companions ate bread, cured meats and cheeses. They've passed by small wooden settlements that would not handle the test of time, to get to a ship build to last out of metals and rare materials. It was like these people she was now following were entirely different from the rest of the world, a world where humanity had barely begun to bloom into society.
But did she expect anything less from the people of Mu?
She thought at first that they had been reborn. That whatever place she was transported to harbored a bastion of Mu culture, one that had lived the rest of time. But the more she came to see the world outside, the more she realized something was amiss. The more it came to make sense.
Someway, somehow, time had changed. That day she came to find herself abandoned in the desert, she was not transported in another place; she had gone back to a different time. To the distant, forgotten past.
And she didn't know what to think of it.
It all seemed so foreign to her. Was it even possible? Was it all a dream, an invention of her imagination? The feeling of the feathers under her fingers seemed so real, however. The wooden decorations of the ship felt solid, firm under her elbow. Everything appeared clear to her. No, it couldn't be a dream. Even though she wanted to wake up, to find out it was all her imagination, she couldn't.
She sighed, and Pichu ruffled his wings a bit. Looking up, he pecked Zia's fingers gently to catch her attention, and she spared him a glance.
“Hey, buddy.”
“Zia sad?”
She didn't really know what to say, so she simply shrugged a little. She wasn't really sad, it was more like...apathy, perhaps. She could choose to be sad, of course; but what good would it do? She didn't like to waste tears on something so useless as a weird situation. They were to be saved for occasions that deserved them.
Like knowing she'd likely never see her friends again.
“I'm not sad. It's fine, I'm fine.”
She sat up a bit, noticing that she's been slouching. It wasn't good. She mustn't let herself down so much.
“Maybe a little...worried, if anything. But I'm not sad.”
“Tao...Tao, Esteban. Miss him.”
“I miss them too. But we'll get better, won't we? We'll find a way back, it's only a matter of time.”
She gave him a scritch under the beak, and this pleased him for a moment. But then he fluttered out of her grasp, landing on the arm of her chair instead.
“Back, back. On the Solaris!”
“It's true that this ship looks like the Solaris. It was built by the people of Mu, after all...”
In all her reflexions about it, she's never imagined them as such. They were much more...tall than she'd ever have thought. Yet they seemed gentle, unlike the bestial Urubus. She knew they were good people, if not a bit strange. But she's seen stranger in her life.
“Remember the people of Mu! Remember!!”
“It's not really remembering if they're still here.”
She couldn't help a chuckle, recalling her rather embarrassed interaction with Kane'Oro earlier. Oh, how she still cringed at it!
“I'd never thought I'd pronounce such words in my life. But this is true, now.”
She glanced around the room. It was one of the ship's many bedrooms, in which she's been invited to stay during their crossing of the Indian Ocean. Like all the other rooms, it was richly decorated: this one had an agricultural theme, with furniture and walls depicting fruit, strands of grain and more beasts she didn't recognize.
Ten thousand years before her time, the world still struggled to feed itself. People were relying on what they found in the wild to eat, and have not yet learned to sow; yet the civilization of Mu knew of agriculture, of cultivated grain and domesticated animals. The tribe of Ash-Feathers, as she has been told, still subsisted on wild plants despite being the most prominent society in this part of the African continent. Knowing these two civilizations existed within the same timeframe, and even managed to meet, struck her like nothing else. How come she was traveling aboard a powerful sun-powered ship, whereas the rest of the world still sailed on boats of reed and straw? Something felt wrong just thinking of it.
It was unnatural, to be fair.
[...]
The rest over at https://archiveofourown.org/works/25015 ... s/61132480