Lai (A to Z Challenge)

Ten thousand years before Homecoming and Tourist Trap a disease crossed over from Humans to the R’il’nai. Although a mild, flu-like disease in Humans, it was deadly to the R’il’nai and to those hybrids with a high proportion of R’il’nian genes. A cure and an inoculation were found, but the aftereffects of the disease, and also of the inoculation, included a drastic reduction of an already low fertility. Between the direct effects of the disease and the aftereffects, the R’il’nian population could not maintain itself. Although hybridization with Human volunteers was re-initiated, the purebred R’il’nai of the Confederation were slowly approaching extinction.

Lai was the last survivor. The only thing that saved him from suicide, in the first lonely years after his father Tarl’s death, was the love of a human woman, Saroi, nicknamed Cloudy for her pure white hair.

Lai is fine-boned, like most R’il’nai, with black hair, green eyes veined with gold, and dark bronze skin. Here he is speaking from a couple of years before Homecoming starts.

Twelve years ago, today, she left me. Oh, I have mementoes. That mobile, a delicate thing of spun glass, still hangs above what was our bed. I filled the vase she made with sweet lemon blossoms today, and thought how she loved the fragrance, but all I have left is memories.

Why did she leave me? Why did her note say only that she begged me not even to try to find her?

She loved me, as I loved her. Not for her appearance. Her tri-dee is still there, but Cloudy’s image is far more vivid in my mind. Pale, clear skin, light brown eyes, hair as white as the puffball clouds of summer. That white hair, beautiful as it was to me, terrified the Genetics Board. It meant she had the Koven gene, which when not blocked by the protective gene she also carried interfered badly with the development of the nervous system. Koven and projective telepathy together was too much to risk, they insisted, and refused to allow her fertility to be restored. Did their decision bother her that much?

I think, now, that I could have assured that any child we had – not that it was very likely – would not have been affected by Koven. I am not sure, but if I have interpreted the history left by Jarn correctly, a R’il’nian father may have far more ability to influence his child’s makeup than anyone suspected. I’ll have to try it out before I am sure, and for that I’ll have to find a partner. Perhaps Elyra?

I’m doing my A to Z blogs from my books, both characters and background information. For characters I’ll introduce them quickly, say what point of time they’re talking from since their situations change drastically through the books, and let them talk. The format of background information will vary according to what I’m talking about. Bold type indicates that more information has been or will be available in another A to Z post. All of these blogs will be scheduled to go live just after midnight Alaska time.

Six Sentence Sunday

Six sentences from Rescue Operation, following directly from the six I had last week.

But he had another heritage as well, one that he was even less comfortable with. His father had left him in charge of the Inner Council of R’il’noids that effectively ruled the Confederation. Not the planets that made up the Confederation; in fact he as the regent of the Confederation had no voice at all in the laws of Central, where the Councils met and he lived. Now and then Council duties included fieldwork when the specialties of individual Council members were needed, and in truth he’d been eager to get away when the government of a distant planet thought (wrongly) that others were making it the target of biological warfare. Wif, the other medical expert, had already been away from Central, and Derry’s specialty of xenotelepathy and Kaia’s of communications had been needed in the field while Roi was gone, leaving Roi’s older brother Zhaim in charge without the steadying influence of the other two.

Roi had never expected a disaster like this.

Again, I know this is more telling than showing, and this, with the last week, makes up a section separated from the action. Suggestions for improvements are welcome!

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Six Sentence Sunday

This is telling, not showing–I know it, but this and next week’s snippet are information the reader needs to have. Any suggestions for livening it up are welcome!

By choice, Roi was an esper Healer, an artist and devoted to his family. The Healing talent was a legacy from his R’il’nian father, the last survivor of the now-extinct R’il’nai. His creativity was a gift from the Human mother he could barely remember. His love for children and other small, helpless things might have come from his mother as well, though he thought it just as likely to have been learned from Marna, the R’il’nian stepmother who had taught him to use the Healing ability he’d been born with. His birth mother had also given him a gene that was far too dangerous to be passed on–on that, he agreed with the Genetics Board. Luckily Wif had been born before the problem was recognized and was not even a carrier, but Roi had no other children of his own.

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