Hibour

        “There it is,” someone said. A solemn murmur stirred through the crowd. Nalina glanced upwards, towards the horizon. The deep lapis hues of night were just beginning to fill that flat edge of sky. Yet within that sky, an unmistakable glimmer flared into view as it caught the taulight. Too fast for a star or planet but far too slow for a meteorite, just about anyone on Calphis could recognize the Bellepaust at tauset. That ancient, deconstructed starship meant a lot of things to a lot of people. To some it was a sign of hope, to others a sign of things best forgotten. To some it was a symbol of a future yet to come, to others still it was a sign of the ancient past. Today, unfortunately, it meant something entirely new to young Nalina.
        It was mythically silent as they all stood in the flats, just outside of town. The endless whistle of wind, the crunch of a boot shifting in the dust, all the usual sounds of Calphis. Nalina just kept on staring at that tiny star, rising into the sky. She had no particular fascination with the starship or what it represented, but she was pretty content not to look at anything else right at that moment. Aarav finally put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. Her brother’s face was plain, almost cold. Weird, she thought. It wasn’t an expression he wore well. Normally he was smug and grinning and laughing, pressuring her to do stupid things. Today he was solemn, especially as he nodded forward, beckoning her gaze back to the congregation. That’s when she finally noticed Deacon Belvi Monsia, the old, local proprietor of the True Light of Sol, staring right back at her.
        Dearest Nalina Tori Hiara, 3rd born of House Hiara, kindly get the fuck on with it, his gaze seemed to say in the most reverent manner possible. Anxiety trickled down her spine. She was five years old and the scrutiny of a crowd full of adults was bearing upon her nerves. This was made especially worse by the full True Light regalia that the deacon and some of the others were wearing. They were all looking at her expectantly. 
        She remembered the flower in her hand. They had told her to hold it carefully. Being born on the dustiest planet in the known human diaspora, she had assumed it was a vegetable, and therefore hadn’t tried eating it. It was a curious thing though. Nowhere in her short memory could she recall such vivid white… Leaves? They didn’t even feel like leaves. She looked back towards the Deacon, who made a subtle gesture with his hand.
        Finally, Nalina looked into the grave. Her brother Atriv lay there. They had put him in a canvas robe. It certainly was not flattering enough for Atriv to have worn in life, but bio-degradable deathgarb were all the rage with corpses on Calphis. A simple shroud covered his face, hiding his expression.
        The third born, only daughter of the house of Hiara would later lament that she felt… almost nothing. She was five. Atriv was ten years her elder, and for most of her short life he had been laboring in a youth camp in Salsridge, which she couldn’t even find on a map. He had eaten well, earned a lot of labor credits, made a lot of friends and got diagnosed with the tamorte just in time to invite those friends to the funeral.
        Nalina gave the white pedaled flower a gentle toss and watched it drop to Atriv’s lifeless arm. She then stepped aside. Aarav tossed his flower and did likewise. Their mother was last, but remained near the head of the grave, eyes cast solemnly upon her first born. The day most heavily weighed upon her, it seemed. Her son had been snatched from the world by an incurable condition, unique to this planet. She dropped the white flower. Upon seeing the flower land, Nali lightened slightly, hoping the ceremony was over. Instead the Deacon started speaking.
        “Atriv Clency Hiara, Homocalcipha, Child of Sol. By the beacon light and the life of Tau we commit your remains to the world. The final sacrifice due to us, your family and kin. Take root and flourish. Give unto the world that which we may forever cherish, and may your soul forever guide us.”
        Nalina stared at the Deacon, then her brother and the flowers that graced his robes. She didn’t know the flowers carried miceaum, and that tradition dictated at least a few of them in the grave to make sure the corpse decomposed. All the soil on Calphis used to be completely inert, but these days microbes were everywhere. Micabacteria were thriving in the topsoil… but sometimes traditions outlive their practicality. Nalina remained impatient as the choir, mostly made up of familiar adults from her community, began their hymn.

        Beckon him lifewise, beckon him home, see not the terror described on the tome. For if he be brazen then let him be shone, the great star of plenty, oh let it be known

        Go now my child, may the wind always turn. Beat to the gathway, what all men will yearn. Seek not the spoils, pray tell they return. Let us flip now those sorrows, and be not downturn.

        Onward we go now, to breakwallow and mise. Show not your pity and seek not the wise. When the ash has all settled and you sift out the lies, go then, go then, proclaim on the highs

      Yes, go then, my people, proclaim on the highs 


        They buried him while the Bellepaust was still visible. In later funerals, Nalina would come to understand that it was tradition to complete the ceremony and burial while the Bellepaust was within line of sight. She had to stand there the whole time while her neighbors shoveled piles of dirt into that open grave. More than anything, she felt impatience, boredom and only a drop of sorrow. That sorrow was felt mostly for her mother, who wept continually beside the grave. She waited until the last shovel was set aside, then tugged on her mother’s bullop. “Mommy, can we go now?” She whined, as politely as she could manage.
        “Aarav, take Nalina home” said their mother without even looking at them. While it wasn’t the answer the five year old had expected, she alighted at the release from funerary detention. Aarav took Nali by the shoulder again and turned her around. Once they were out of earshot, she started galloping ahead of him, her boots crunching on the dusty pathway. Her shadow was long, stretching out across the lichen and grass. She made some silly shapes and gestures with her hands to test the shadows dimensions, because that’s just what you do with shadows. Aarav just followed until he couldn’t hold the silence any longer.
        “Idiot, aren’t you worried?” He said.
Dinner was just about the only thing Nalina was worried about, but her older brother was asking so she hesitated to admit that. With all the defiance she could muster, she turned to him with arms crossed. “I’m telling mom you said that-“
        With her unsatisfactory answer, he gave her a look. “Seriously. Don’t you even know how worried mom is? Nali, she and Atriv were earning all the credits…”
        More things she didn’t understand in her ripe, young age. Nalina’s day-to-day life was less about the Commonwealth’s universal credit system and more about counting beyond ten, showing everyone her cartwheels and finding the next curse word to add to her vocabulary. 
        “So?”
        “So, we need credits to eat… and live where we live.” He continued.
        Wanting to say something, she focused on him, seeing the anguish in his face. Aarav was four years older, much closer in age than Aatriv had been. That being the case, Aarav was the most fascinating person in her life right now. Yet a pit opened in her stomach when she recognized this misery in his expression. Has he ever cried in front of her before? She scratched her neck, watching him hold back tears. “Don’t cry Aarav” she said dumbly. “We can find credits!”
        Apparently, this wasn’t the right thing to say. Aarav sputtered and shook his head. “Nali- idiot. Don’t you- don’t you understand?”
        Something in her empty expression told him that she, in fact, didn’t understand. He wiped his bullop sleeve across his nose, then stared at his own shadow for a moment. The two of them cast long, dark streaks across the grass-pocked terrain. Tauci was touching the horizon, nearly set.
        “We need credits to eat and live in our house, right?”
She nodded, feeling uneasy.
        “The Commonwealth gives mom some of those credits,” he went on, “because she has three kids… and because dad died.”
Again she nodded, gazing down their elongated shadows. She watched his shadow shuffle beside hers.
        “Well, those credits aren’t enough. Or at least, not enough to live well. Mom was working before, then Aatriv got old enough. He went to Salsridge with that labor contract… Nali, he earned those credits so mom didn’t have to work.”
        Nalina heard Aarav swallow. She frowned, not understanding. “Why didn’t he just work here?” She asked.
        “Nali- no” Aarav sputtered, frustrated. “Nali, it’s the credits! We don’t have those credits anymore, don’t you get it? Mom has to work again. I might… I might…”
        He finally broke. For perhaps the first time in her short life, Nalina listened to her brother sob. For the first time in her life, she felt true pity towards someone she admired. The complex emotion ravaged her understanding. She had no experience to draw from. She didn’t have the same relationship with Aatriv that Aarav had. Her brothers had been writing letters for years now. Aatriv was a role model for the family, the loss of which most heavily weighed upon Aarav. Nalina wasn’t equipped to comfort her second eldest brother. The best she could do was simply stand beside him, alone, out here in the outskirts of town. 
        Tau Ceti finally set on that golden horizon. Their shadows elongated almost to infinity before the haze obscured everything in the distance. As pinprick stars emerged overhead, Nalina finally stepped forward and took him by the wrist. “It’s dinnertime,” she said quietly.
        Again, he wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “Yeah… I’ll make you some soy rolls and sours. I think we have rye too.”
        She lightened at the prospect of hot food. “Okay! Is mommy coming?” she asked.

—

        They walked well into twilight. None of the tram lines were conveniently aligned to their route home. It was truly dark when they arrived at their eastside homestead. The brick and clay pulpo was a single story, but had two chimneys, which made it easy for Nalina to recognize amongst the nearby homes. She hurried in front of Aarav to grab the sparker from the door. “I wanna light it” she exclaimed, carrying the device to the oil lamp on the front walkway. Aarav said nothing and simply walked past her as she lit the lamp on the first try. “Hey! I did it!” She exclaimed. She looked over her shoulder, hopeful for praise. Aarav simply unlocked the door and proceeded inside. The electric kitchen light turned on a moment later. Unsatisfied, she stood there and watched his shadow in the kitchen.
        It was becoming clear that things were going to be different now. Her brother had never behaved like this. As she set the sparker aside and allowed the door to slam behind her, she watched her brother hurry about the electric cookpot in the kitchen. “If mommy isn’t coming home… what should we do tonight?”
        He didn’t say anything. As if she wasn’t even there, he began slicing tubers while he waited for the hot pot to boil. Nalina’s patience lasted only a moment longer. She turned towards the den, stepping over the boxes of Aatriv’s belongings, rounding the molded-fiber table, then sitting in front of the home radio set. The mysterious device was beyond her, but she knew which switch turned it on. With a click of the toggle, soft folk music filled the den. She made a disgusted expression at the sound of the preachy tune. “What is this?” she grumbled to herself. Music was boring.
        “Hey, don’t touch the radio!” Aarav finally called from the kitchen.
        “I wanna listen to the Loud Man” she said, describing a news broadcaster she didn’t actually know the name of, but had heard on my occasions. 
        Her brother groaned in the kitchen. “That guy talks in the morning, Nali. It’s not on right now.”
        Undeterred, she tried to understand the numbers on the dial. As someone with only a limited grasp of written Angli, she really had no clue what any of the numbers and labels meant. She turned the dial and the machine rumbled and squelched, disrupting the music. Voices, tunes, otherworldly feedback and static filled the den as she scoured the radiowaves.
        “Nalina! Really? Turn it off!” Aarav called.
        “I don’t know how,” she shouted truthfully. A bit more searching and the static faded to a melodic voice.

        “-listeners, and welcome back to Sagas of Sol. I’m your host, Paulipi Bine, and tonight we have a fascinating tail of suspense and adventure on the high seas of Old Earth. Yes my dear listeners, we are talking about those most mysterious of Earthly features, those limitless fields of deepwater that once wrapped the homeworld. Just as you now see ships on the wind today, so too did man once sail those ancient waters… so bear this in mind as I invite you to join me on the-”

        “Hey, Aarav! Come listen to this!” She called towards the kitchen.
        “Turn it off Nali, we’re about to eat dinner.”
        “Seriously! It’s cool! It’s a story about Earth! It’s like the stories dad used to tell!”
        No response came from the kitchen and despite the robust smells of boiling rye and aromatic spices, she remained at the radio, listening intently. In a break with household tradition, they ate by the radio that night, listening to the new radio program. They didn’t speak about the funeral again, instead permitting the words of Paulipi Bine to carry them to a far off world and a distant time. Their imagination flooded with vivid descriptions and harrowing tales of ancient oceans.
        Their mother didn’t come home that night. She remained at the gravesite until morning, watched over by members of the community. It was the onset of a depression that would come to define their mother in the years to come.