Part 23: A Legacy of Love

: I guess I might be here a little early. I would have thought that–



: Oh, there you are. I was just thinking about you.



: Yeah, I'm glad to see you, too. I know it's only been a few days since we were at that Observatory together, but... I've had a lot on my mind, and it felt like it's been weeks.

: Likewise.

: When we exited that Starseeker, you nearly started talking as though you were an unalike Earthling. That you weren't Ezra.

: In a good way, or in a bad way?





That's one way to put it, Isol! Nothing about Ezra's spirits being lifted?

: Heh, well, you know... if I'm going to be a sad sack, then I don't want to drag down the rest of the world with me.

: Are you eating regularly?

: I was waiting for that question to come up.

: And...



: ... Before you texted me earlier, I had to remind myself that I was hungry. It was past noon and I hadn't eaten anything before breakfast, but I didn't feel hungry.

: So... yes, I'm technically eating regularly, but it's probably not as much as you'd like.

: But hey, progress!

: ... That's not quite the news I was wanting to hear, yet it's greater than nothing.

: So, that's good.

: I ate a bit before I came over, but I sort of assumed that you were going to bring me lunch again. Try another of your Ghi foods crossed with Earth foods.



: Well, you know what they say: the fastest way to an Earthling's heart is through their stomach.



: I, uh... I don't think so? I don't think it's wrong, exactly. There are harder ways to get a person to love you, that's for sure.

: ... Interesting.

You're already inside our hearts, Isol.

: So, uh...?

: I did not create a cuisine today. Sorry.

: I was actually going to ask what it was you wanted to do today. I'm guessing you invited me all the way out here for a reason. It sounded important in your texts.

: ... Right.

: ...





: Do you mean literally? Because I can help you if you can describe the words you want.

: No, I didn't say that literally. I–





: I would like to do a thing with you, Ezra.

: Uh – I'm assuming this isn't a booty call?

: It isn't, you dingus. This is serious.

: Oh. Sorry.

It's a bit too early in the grieving process to take your emotions out with sex, Ezra. But... well, like I said before, everyone grieves differently.

: ... It relates to your doyenne. I know the... scheduling is a little early, though. The scars are still there.

: It's about Mom? What did you have in mind?

: I wanted to–

A Mother's Farewell

: ... Your doyenne... is a hero, Ezra. You don't need to hear that again.

: Yeah, so I've been told.

: Though... she's also a hero to the Ghians. The Riklid likely wouldn't halt with just the Earth and Earth is – well, Earth and Ghi are allies, though they're also 'next door' to each other, so to say.

: So the win on the Riklid with Earth is a win with Ghi as well. Your doyenne isn't just an Earth hero – she's a Ghian hero, too.

: And I –

: ...



: Wha – yes, of course, Isol. You hardly need to ask.



: What difference does that make?

: You're my friend, Isol; you just said that Mom is your hero, too; and you're offering to do something to honour her memory. I'm not really seeing a downside here.

: It's just–

: Wow. I really didn't know how this talk was going to go.

: I'm assuming it's not something that an Earthling might consider 'traditional'?

: That's right; I was going to honour her through Ghian traditions. I was worried that you wanted her honour retained solely as Earthlings would do.

: That you didn't hesitate was a real shock.

: Heh.

Ezra is a very multicultural and open-minded person, Isol. You should know that by now!

: In the message that Mom left for me, she said that she joined the fight against the Riklid for me and Dad, first and foremost. Earth and Mars came second to her.

: So I feel like she couldn't care less about being honoured as a 'traditional Earthling' or not, as long as she got the attention she deserved.

: Besides: Mom was a very 'your friend is my friend' kind of woman. I bet she'd have loved you.

: ... Hnn.

: So what did you have in mind? I'm assuming it involves the park.

: It does.

: Do you recall the discussion we had when we had the night together last Monday?

: Uh... not especially.

: It was on death and how Ghians inter their deceased. You were aghast at how we do it on Ghi; you called it 'culture shock'.

: Uh... oh! You bury your dead straight into the ground so that trees and grass and stuff will grow on their site.

: Yes, that's all correct.

: And you want to do that for Mom?

: Also correct.

: ... Back then, if I remember right, I said that it was a macabre idea. I'd have a hard time eating a fruit off a tree that grew over someone's grave site.

: But now... I don't know. It somehow seems like a better idea.

If we hadn't hung out with Isol in town, this wouldn't be something Ezra would know about! Would Isol have offered to give this ceremonial burial rite to Eden if we hadn't done so?

: Would you trust that I had a likewise thought, and it was only when the kier died that I turned around, as you had?

: No, I'd believe it. When humans die, we do a lot of weird, gross stuff to their bodies in order to keep them presentable for their funerals.

: Now that Mom is dead, I have a better understanding of the necessities of things like that.

: Not that Mom has a body to preserve...

: Oh, actually.

: If what you want is to grow a tree over Mom, then, well... she... she's not here. What's the plan there?

: The contingency is that, in case there is no...

: ...uh... carcass...

: ...then the usual surrogate is a thing that denotes their existence instead.

: It's usually an ignition, such as a candle, or lit wood.

: An ignit – oh, a fire.

: Candles and dead wood aren't great alternates to real carcasses, though. Any tree we try to grow will own a weak start. At least, it will in contrast to real, uh... tree-cuisine.

: ... Sorry, I know you hate needing to do this, but... 'tree-cuisine?'

: Ugh – the thing you use on yields on a ranch to cause it to grow quickly.

: ... Oh, fertilizer.

: Heh, well, I don't exactly keep a lot of bonemeal on me.

: Even if a tree doesn't grow, I'm sure Mom will be happy that we tried, and that we did something for her in her honour.

: That's the wish, anyway. It's the thought that counts.

: So... where are we doing this thing?

: I own all the ingredients; we can get started right now.

: And I think I saw a good site on the way here, actually. I'll take you to it.





: Right, just what I was thinking, too.

: So, to start, we dig a hole...





: Usually, a carcass is all that we need to continue. Since there isn't one, the thinking goes, a lit candle on its own isn't 'adequate' to denote what the existence a single creature is worth.

: So, instead, we light the candle using a lit shoot that was generated in the likewise kier tree that generated the seed.

: The candle denotes the current, the 'now', and the sanguinity in the next generations; the shoot denotes the late generation, going onward, and, although it's hard, seeing away with what is done; and the seed denotes the next generation and the chances it can carry.





: Traditionally, it's a seed that the deceased had cherished. Usually an achene tree, or the like.

: I didn't know what yield your doyenne cherished, though, so... I went with an orchard seed. A Red Delicious, exactly. You Earthlings really enjoy your orchard achenes, so I thought it was a good wager.

: Her favourite fruit was bananas, actually... but I'm sure she won't mind.

: Now, we inter the lit candle...







Having gone through the ceremony with Isol, I have to say I appreciate the cultural idea the writer came up with for the Ghians. It's realistic to consider that a civilization or people in a hostile land would maximize the chances to increase their resource yield. They're much like the Fremen in Frank Herbert's Dune, who take all possible moisture and water content from their deceased. I wonder if it was an intentional nod to that story?



: What are you suggesting?

: Like, if the seed doesn't sprout, does that mean that the person it was buried on top of was evil in life, or something?

: Oh, no.

: Well, not... according to the religion's word.

: There is a... credence, in sorts, that leads to that thinking, though. Were a tree not to grow on a Ghian's lay site, then it says that the Ghian that had died isn't granting the next generations the resources they need.

: Ghi is a desolate world; it's hard to grow greenery anywhere it doesn't already grow. Yet, that said, Ghians, like Earthlings, always want to entrust that the next generation is sustained, and we all want to set our sign in the world.

: Hah, even in death, there's pressure to provide for your family.

: Which is exactly why it's not a thing according to the religion's word. That anxiety is entirely its own thing.

: Your doyenne can doze easily knowing that she doesn't need a tree to set her sign in the galaxy, though.

: ... Yeah, that's true enough.

*The soundtrack fades out.*

: ...

: Ezra, I'd like to say a thing.

: Uh, sure, go ahead.

: ... Were it not clear, in the stint since we initially saw each other... it's hard to articulate what it is I really want to say.

: Because of our Earthling languages not being easy for Ghian mouths?

: There's that, yeah, though that's not quite what I intended.

: I initially went to Earth just to stay on holiday. I was a tourist. And thanks to the Riklid, in two years, I would exist on Galilei longer than I did on Ghi.

: Galilei is an Earth extension. This galaxy is Earth's, not Ghi's. There are scarce Ghians in Galilei at all, let alone Section Three-And-One.

: It's hard to talk to Earthlings, and that includes you.



: You just... you're not Ghian.

: There are less than a thousand Ghians in Galilei's entirety. Galilei is larger than countless Earth countries.

: I... can't imagine how lonely that must be.



: Heightening the issue is age. I was hatched thirty-one years ago; existence is already one-third ended. Ghians don't exist as long as Earthlings do.

: The gulley in our ages isn't that great, though you still own your youth. I...

: ... don't.

: I don't care about that, Isol.

: I do, though.

: Nearly thirty-two years, and here, I talk to and hang around and lay with Earthlings that are... going to exist longer than I will.

Isol sees an age gap as an issue, but it's not so much the age gap and more the lifespan. That's looking very far ahead...

: ... Are you trying to say that you want to stop hanging around each other?



: Oh!

: ...

Oh, and before continuing, please note: if there was ever a time to play Isol's theme and listen to her voiced messages as you read, it's now!

Far From Home (Isol's Theme)

: Heh. This is where the whole 'hard to articulate what it is I want to say' thing shows through.

: Ezra, we exist in an Earthling extension, in an Earthling galaxy. Ghi and Earth are allies, though that doesn't change that Ghians are aliens in your territories.

: You, though, Ezra: going on the night we saw each other, you do anything you can to cause that loneliness to scatter.

: When we were at that Starseeker earlier in the week, you said that, rather than look towards the Earth, you would rather try and see Ghi.

: And when I asked why, you said 'why not'?

: That whole exchange had greater weight than you intended, I think. That was the hour that I–

: No, I don't want to get too distant ahead.

: The thing is, it was a nice thing to hear.

: And then, later that night, when you learned that your rike and your ...



: ...your rike was returning, you decided you'd take the night out rather than return to your house to get it ready.

: And that was the night we talked about Ghian burial traditions, and you asked what my childhood was like.

: And we talked until the sun rose.

: That was a... unique night, Ezra. One that stuck. We did a lot that day and I'll cherish it all.

: It wasn't until you and I started using our hours together that I started to... not think that I was an outcast.

: As an alien, during a war with aliens, I was generally lucky when I was treated with ignorance. It got ugly during the worst instances. I always sensed that I was only tolerated, and that nearly all Earthlings didn't consent to a Ghian in their glass society.

: All that notwithstanding that Ghians existed on Earth, too, and they couldn't dodge the Riklid, either. I was lucky.

: ...

: And then, here you are: an Earthling that indulged in Ghian culture; an Earthling that wanted their hours to go with a Ghian; an Earthling that...



: ... Isol–





: *Ahem!*

: Ezra, raising a tree requires exertion. It's not an easy task.

: It is our duty to this seed, and to your doyenne and her legacy, that we return each day to ensure that it is watered and that no one has carelessly crushed it, and so on.

: So, you and I – that is to say, we–

: ... It's our duty that we – that we return–

: Isol, would you like to come back to this park with me tomorrow?

: ...

: Yes, I would.

: Perfect.

: What else do you have planned for today?

: Not a thing.

: Also perfect.

: Do you want to go do nothing together?

: Hnn. Do nothing together?

: I think I'd rather do anything together.

: Sure, we could do that instead. That sounds good to me.

*The soundtrack fades out and the screen fades to black.*

Hell yeah Ezra, you and Isol really do deserve each other. Love can bloom on a (previous) battlefield!