CANTOR DUST (Itari + unanun)

[unanun]

​

 

[unanun]

It was a table for two at the corner cafe, the same cafe that they had been patronizing for a decade since it opened. Before the cafe, the space had been occupied by a bakery with a modern oven, which sold fresh breads, baguettes, and sandwiches. Before that, it was a general store that sold candy and taffy in wax paper. And before that, it was just a patch of undeveloped dirt, and they met elsewhere, sometimes over a fire, maybe at the bottom of the lake, or somewhere in the sky, closer to the stars.

Grey was as grey as his namesake, as if charcoal ash had been pressed into a mold for however long it took for a human to come out. The ashtray at the small, circular table had a neat pile of spent cigarettes, and another one dangled from his thin lips. As the smoke rose into the air, it was burned away to carbon dioxide by a phased-array laser in a small cloud of sparks, so the smoldering end of his cigarette looked like a sparkler firework.

The laser was a modern feat of engineering that finally allowed smokers back inside stores, but the lack of smoke frustrated Grey to no end, as a second cigarette was soon dangling from his lips in a futile attempt to get some stink, any hint of entropy, into the atmosphere, but it too sparked away as he pulled on two red dots. Soon his head was immersed in a sphere of smoke that glittered on its surface.

"I'm thinking of leaving."

Grey took both of the cigarettes out, pinched between index and middle finger.

"No, not moving. Leaving."

He leaned back deep into his seat, stabbing the cigarettes into the ash tray and grinding them out.

"Like, off-world."

He clicked his tongue and crossed his arms.

"Yeah. Board a ship, jump out somewhere. The neighbouring planet, yeah. Some companies are going to start mining operations there."

He pursed his lips.

"Why not? There's nothing around here for me. Look at me, I have to wear grey and smoke cigarettes to stop myself from forgetting. And now I can't even do that either. Look ..."

He reached forward and cupped her hands, which were twisted in worry on the tabletop. They were still strong, firm, warm.

"You'll do fine without me. But I can't stay. I'm dying." He picked up the butt of a cigarette, and the most he could do was make it wrinkle and oxidize black. "I can't do anything anymore. There's order everywhere I look, and they've got the whole sun backing them up. What am I supposed to do about that? I'm not a black hole or whatever, you know. I can't just wait out the sun. We're not..." he winced.

"We're not gods."

He winced and pulled back against the sudden onslaught.

"Well, what do you want me to do then?!" He lunged forward and slapped a palm against the table, raising his voice almost to the point where others would start to look over.

"..."

"I'll come visit, okay?" He brought her hands to his lips, and left the ashen print of a kiss on the vibrant green. Her hand cupped his cheek and came away covered in grey.

"You see? There's going to be nothing left of me soon. Like ashes in the wind."

He reached inside his coat for the pack of cigarettes, hesitated, and pulled out an empty hand instead. Grey looked defeated.

"I've already booked the tickets. I'm going to leave at the end of the month."

He reached out for her, his eyes following from the chair, to the countertop where some money was slammed against the counter, and out the door, but did not get up from his chair. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the cool tabletop.

 

[Itari]

"Lady Growth, you keep looking at the sky. Are you waiting for someone?" Nari was pulled from her thoughts and looked down at the small child clinging to her summery green, leafy skirts.

"Yes. I'm not sure he'll come though." Their last meeting had ended in Grey storming from her rooms and leaving early.

"Oh no. It's Decay, isn't it?" her attendants couldn't keep the looks of disgust from their faces. Attendants. It still felt strange to have them. How much things could change in only a few hundred years. When Grey had left, the people had hardly paid attention to her. Now, she was rarely alone, and the work was endless. It spread her and her power thin.

"What's Decay? Is it bad?"

"Is it bad? Ha!" Her youngest attendant laughed sharply, "300 years ago Decay almost destroyed the planet!"

"He was once a God of this planet like Lady Growth but he cut his connection with the planet and left. At that time, Lady Growth used Her powers and saved us from destruction. Now he comes back once in a while to beg Lady Growth for Her company, and She's too gracious to turn him away."

The young girl's eyes opened wide, and she clung to Nari's skirts tighter, forcing her to stop walking. "Is he coming to take you away? Are you going to leave, too?" Nari smiled gently and reached down to pick the little girl up but was stopped by her oldest attendant who picked the child up herself.

"Don't cling to Lady Growth, Dahlia. You're interrupting her work. Excuse me, my Lady, I'll take her away to her mother."

"Lady Growth! Please look at the crops here!"

"Over here as well, Lady Growth!"

"Lady Growth, please hurry. There's still much to be done and you have to be back at the temple by tomorrow morning."

Are you going to leave, too? Nari turned the question over in her head for the thousandth time as she made her way across the field. Birds perched on a wooden headdress shaped like antlers that wrapped around the back of her head, ending in two bright red flowers that covered her eyes. She would be lying if she said she had never considered it. She had even gone to see Gray's planet once. It was why they had fought the last time he was here. But how could she leave? This planet would die if she left. Grey had proved that. Still, if he asked her to would she say no? He had never once asked her to come with him. Perhaps he knew it would only end in another argument. Or perhaps he simply didn't want her to come with him. They had spent over a millennium by each other's sides after all. The universe was a vast place. Surely, he had met others after leaving. The thought made her chest grow tight. Perhaps she was the only one who couldn't move on.

"Dahlia! Come back here!"

The little girl ran up to Nari, tears in her eyes, "Lady Growth, Anna said Decay is going to come and take you far away!" She buried her face into her leg, "Don't go! I want you stay here forever!" Nari bent down. Pale, white fingers with bright green tendrils running through them gently stroked her cheek. A flower sprouted from her finger, which she tucked it into the little girl's hair and then pulled her close. "Don't worry, Dahlia. I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"... Promise."

 

[Itari]

The air hummed with the sound of thousands of people praying. A priest led a little girl, no more than ten, to a great bonfire, burning the wood of the sacred tree of their planet. She wore nothing but a cloak over her thin shoulders. In her hands, she clutched a small stuffed animal. It was the last of her possessions. The little girl looked up at the priest, and then tossed the toy into the fire. The priest nodded approvingly, and then removed the cloak from her shoulders. The girl turned and began ascending a set of stairs that led to a raised dais before the sacred tree itself.

As she turned to face them, stark naked and alone, the voices of her people grew louder. They prostrated themselves on the ground, arms extended forward, palms turned to the sky. In the front was her family. They had been overjoyed when she was chosen. The girl had also been happy. Who wouldn't be? Few in the galaxy received the chance to become a god to bring life to otherwise unlivable planets. The first few days had been full of celebration and feasting. The last few days they had cleaned out her room and destroyed all of her possessions. And now, she was afraid.

Suddenly, the praying stopped. As one the people before her all sat up and stared expectantly. Heart pounding, the girl turned away from them to face the great tree. For several long seconds, she stood rooted to the spot. The people stared at her small trembling frame. She could feel the warmth of the fire on her back. It filled her with courage she didn't have and she took one brave step forward.

A piercing pain shot through her chest. She looked down to see a root of the great tree sticking out of it. Her first thought was that she had failed. The great tree had rejected her. But then the root grew. She could feel it, like a snake underneath her skin. No, not a snake. Like a thousand tiny, parasitic worms, the tendrils squirmed and grew in her bones, her muscles, her organs. Down her arms and legs, up her spine and through her stomach and head. The girl screamed. She screamed as she had never screamed before and begged for mercy. Behind her, her people celebrated.

The girl awoke in the dark. She was still on the dais. The rest of her people had long returned to their ships to prepare for the terraforming process. She descended the stone steps slowly, stopping in front of the remains of the bonfire. She wasn't sure how she knew. She just did. The little girl thrust her hand into the cold coals until she felt fingers brush against hers. She grasped the hand and pulled. Before her, stood a gray smudge in the shape of a boy. He intertwined his fingers with hers and she knew she was complete.

 

[unanun]

All around was a sea of faces. They all looked the same, or if they were different, it was hard to tell if they were different. Together they were praying and he joined as well, prostate with palms turned to the sky. Was it a gesture of offering? What were they offering?

Their respect?

Love ... ?

Gratitude?

Through the screen he also watched the sacrifice, and spotted himself in the sea of worshippers. But what happened to himself, he did not remember. This part, Grey thought, as he watched the creation of his beloved, he also could not clearly remember, but it was too morbid to be complete fiction.

Grey awoke in the middle of a dust storm. He sat, chin on a bent knee, and waited for a few hours for the system to pass. Another few hours and the haze finally cleared, so he could get a good look at the green planet that shone bright in the sky. In his pocket he pinched a credit card.

"It's hard to visit." They were back at the cafe. A bowl of hazy air surrounded Grey's head, wreathed in microscopic sparks as a trembling finger of ash dangled off of the end of a cigarette. "Transports only come when miners are relieved from their shift."

He raised his hands. "I know they come every six months. I don't have the money to come every six months."

He bit the end of the cigarette and the ash broke off to stain his pants - the lasers did not take care of such a large piece. "Yeah, money! I don't have any money now, I just ... walk around?"

"Well, you should have said so sooner!" He reached forward and took the credit card from her offering hand. Grey mashed his cigarette into the ash try as the haze around his head dissipated.

"I'll be back on the next transport."

"... love you too."

That was more than ten years ago. Soon after he arrived back from his visit, more exhausted than ever and ready to die, the mining machines arrived. They churned the surface, and threw up so much dust that sandstorms became a permanent fixture of the weather. The mining companies set off tectonic bombs that opened up thousands of new volcanoes, and directly skimmed the lava in their floating barges to process the ore in low orbit.

While the humans tore up the planet, Grey's skin firmed to the texture of slate, no longer loess that flew away with every idle breeze. Every six months for five years he pulled out the credit card and stood in the spaceport while the transports lifted off and shrunk into the horizon. The other five he did not even take a repulsor lift to the port, laying in the dirt in a yet-unmined patch to watch the green of the world across the channel grow.

Finally, the dreams became too strong for him to ignore. When he arrived on the next transport, the cafe was gone, leveled and consumed as part of her ever growing residence. He stood at the entrance for a day, and against all of his hope, she showed up on the second day.

"You're looking good."

"No. I quit a few years ago. There's enough entropy up there for a lifetime." They shared a laugh over 'lifetime.'

"Really? I think it's beautifu-"

"You what?" Grey had just turned his head to look with longing at his planet before he snapped back in horror.

"No. No no no! You can't be there!"

"Don't you understand? Why can't you understand? We're not supposed- " He froze, unable to get the words out.

"I'll come visit more often. Just, please. You can't be there."

Anger replaced pleading on his face. The firm and lustrous stone of his brow, pinched into furrows by anger, shed a small, fine cloud of dust, and for each particle a leaf somewhere on the planet fell dead from its branch. He kept his mouth shut after that. Words failed him. They came up many times, but he put them back down, for the sake of their memories. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, and had to leave the room.

 

[Itari]

Nari sat in the center of a meadow humming quietly. In her hands, she held a half-made rectangular object, which she carefully built from long strips of grass that grew from her fingers. Grey slept peacefully in her lap. It was a beautifully sunny day and the air was filled with the sweet scent of flowers. On the far side of the field, sat her ever present attendants, or priests and priestesses as they called themselves these days. They watched over the couple like hawks, staring daggers at Grey's sleeping form. Though they had gotten used to his visits, they did not appreciate his presence, and many still did not trust him. It had been nice to have them around in the begining. However as the years went by, she seemed to have less and less time to herself. They followed her constantly, like moths drawn to flame. Try as she might, she could never get rid of them. They were much too stubborn, and Nari often found herself giving into them once they started crying. Over the last 50 years, she had watched as the temple grew in power. Grey complained of them using her, and while she knew he was right, Nari didn't mind so long as they weren't abusing the power they had.

Grey stirred in his sleep and rolled over to look up at her. Nari smiled and brushed the hair out of his face. His skin no longer left ashen marks on her skin. But at the same time it had become harder. Colder. "Good morning. Sleep well?"

"They're just looking, Grey. Stares won't kill you. Or do you need me to tell them to turn away?"

"It's for you." She handed him a small card holder with a new credit card in it. "I've seen what your card looks like. I know you just stick it into your pocket with all the dust and dirt. He reached up to her and she bent down and gently kissed him. How long had it been since they had been able to simply enjoy each other's company like this? Ever since he had left, it felt like the amount that they fought had exponentially increased. So much so, that Nari had started to worry that their relationship might come apart at the seams.

She smiled, "Nothing. Just that I'm happy to be with you."

Grey pulled her down towards him, and for a moment, she could pretend that nothing had changed between them.

 

[unanun]

From that visit, Grey stepped on the transport every six months without fail.

The next visit he was first in line. He even had a small gift, a small jar of perpetually whirling dust, but never saw it again on any subsequent visit.

The tenth time he lingered when they called for boarding, and was in the middle of the line, yet as he stepped off the ship into the arrivals hall there was a still a smile and quick energy to his step. He almost got lost on his way to her temple - it was always changing, ever growing its boundaries as she influenced more and more of the planet. Still, they were able to share their love.

The sixtieth time he was well and truly lost. The transport slowly floated down from space and docked in a completely different location. All roads led to the temple, but by the time he navigated its hallways, bureaucracy, dodged the right attendants, hid from the left attendants, and reached her room at precisely the moment when the priests changed shift, the flower in his hand had long wilted and there was only a small smile on his face.

The thousandth time he nearly missed the transport. The Temple of Lady Growth was visible from where he stood in the spaceport, covering nearly a tenth of the planet. He only found her because a guardian met him at the arrivals hall, none too happy about their paradoxical task to guide him to their Lady. Her influence was starting to spread to his planet too - the economic linkages between them grew ever greater, as more and more ore was processed to feed the accelerating growth of her planet. His planet was covered with scars.

The two thousandth time, he waited in the arrival hall for a week, slumped over on a bench. No one noticed nor harassed him - the hall was so busy and the shifts were so frequent, any one person would only see them for an hour or two at most. The planet poured over itself in its exuberance, a flower already blooming inside a flower before the original had begun to wilt, like a spout of water fired straight up into the air.

Since then, three hundred trips worth of credits filled up his card. The grass of the holder was still green and firm, and he even had to trim it from time to time. Every six months he brought up the computer and stared at the balance until the day ticked over, waiting to see if the deposits would stop. They never did.

 

[Itari]

When Decay had first left, the people worried that Nari would not be able to keep the planet alive on her own. Before then, it had always been watched over by two deities. Against all expectations though, Nari's power bloomed, far beyond what anyone had believed possible. And the more her strength grew, the more her freedom shrank. Nari's power came from the heart of the planet. Its roots ran through her veins as a part of her. The planet existed for the people. It did not allow her to use it against them, making her powerless against her own people. And as her freedom shrank, it became harder and harder to see him.

In the beginning she had gone down to the arrivals hall to meet him every 6 months. For a while it became a game, Nari and Grey doing their best to evade and outwit her priests while they did their best to separate them. By the 20th year though, they stopped letting her out of the temple. That was when things started to get difficult. Her followers would block the way to her rooms, pull her away for sudden emergencies, and lock her doors to prevent her from leaving. Anything they could to stop them from meeting and make their meetings as miserable as possible. She learned to hide the gifts he gave her, lest the suddenly go missing or be broken in unfortuante "accidents". Nari could see it affecting him, see the way his smile fell just a little more every time they met.

She did her best to combat it. Punished and dismissed priests and priestesses that harassed him, made sure her schedules were clean every six months, made them hidden rooms and passages and made sure that all roads would lead to her temple, so that he might always find her. For as long as he could reach her, surely she could make him smile again.

On what would have been the thousandth year, he stopped coming. She waited for him for a week. She sent attendants to the terminal to search for him, even attempted to leave herself. A millenia together. Another millenia apart. Few in the universe could claim to have such a long relationship. No one would have blamed her for deciding it was time to move on. And yet, it was precisely because they had persevered for so long that she didn't give up.

327 years. It took 327 years for them to forget him. 327 years to find a follower who was willing to help smuggle her out. Another 22 to make the proper arrangements. So, after 349 years, 4 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days of no contact, Nari got on a ship for the second time in her life to go find her love. She took nothing with her except a jar filled with a whirling dust storm for comfort. The first time had also been to visit him, a lifetime ago. She had never made it off the ship then, simply stared at his planet from a window. After that, she had promised him to never return. But that was before he stopped visiting. What was she doing, chasing after a man that had ghosted her for over 300 years? Surely it meant he had given up? No. She would hear him say it to her face before accepting it. After two millennium, she deserved that much.

As the ship pulled farther and farther away from her home, she could feel a pulling sensation in her chest. At first, just a mild discomfort, then a growing pain. She had noticed the pain the first time she had left as well, though it had not been as intense back then. It was the planet's way of telling her to turn back. She had not been created to leave the star that made her. The ship landed and she fought to keep her breath even as she stepped off. Her attendant would immediately return if they realized she was in pain.

The terminal was teeming with people and Nari found herself retreating into a corner. They did not know who she was here. Did not care. They walked passed with without looking or pushed her out of the way when she stood in their path. For the first time in her life, she was a nobody. It was equal parts terrifying and relieving. She clutched the jar, hands trembling. The priest led her out of the corner and onto a nearby bench. "Lady Growth, are you alright? Should we go back?"

Nari shook her head. "No. Absolutely not." Her heart felt as though it was being pulled out of her chest. But she had come too far to leave without at least seeing him.

Her attendant looked around, worried. "Wait here my lady, I'll go get you some water and see if I can find any information about him."

The priest returned 10 minutes later with an excited expression, "Lady Growth! I met someone who knows him! They said they would bring him here... Lady Growth!" Nari had collapsed on the bench, clutching her chest and breathing heavily. They did not wait for Decay to arrive. Instead, the priest gathered their nearly unconscious mistress, despite her protests, and hurried back onto the ship, leaving behind nothing but a brilliant red flower.

 

[unanun]

The two of them were alone in the shrine, a simple hollow obelisk of sandstone. Grey slouched in a folding chair, and the one opposite from him sat straight backed, hands grasping their knees. In Grey's hand was a glass sphere with a red flower that he rolled around his palm.

"I APOLOGIZE FOR MY EARLIER CONDUCT. WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN ALONE LONG ENOUGH FOR MEMORY TO FADE, THE MOMENT OF DISCOVERY CAN BE A SHOCK."

"Where is your other half?"

"LONG GONE."

Where smoke curled from the the left half of Grey's face, his brother across from him was a skeleton of pure obsidian, from which ribbons of dense smoke poured from every surface. The chamber should have been filled with choking smoke, but in both their cases the emissions faded to nothing a few feet above them.

"You ... you killed her."

"YOU HAVEN'T? SO YOU ARE THE LOSING ONE IN THIS SYSTEM. DISAPPOINTING."

"No!" Grey leapt to his feet with white knuckled fists. The warming glass sphere shocked him back into the chair, and he slumped weakly against the flimsy sheet metal back. "We are a double planet system. I left for the second planet and it has been good since."

"AH, SO THAT IS WHAT THAT DISTASTEFUL GREEN PLANET IS IN THE SKY."

DEATH finally moved, flexing his fingers that grasped his kneecaps. If a skeleton could smile, there would be no better example than right now.

"BALANCE IS A POINT ATTRACTOR, EASILY DISTURBED BY ANY PERTURBATION."

Grey immediately thought of the credit card, still in its vibrant wreath of grass, sitting in the corner of his apartment.

"Your comet has been stilled and rigged with tectonic charges. I can give the word now and you will be scattered to the intersolar wind."

"..." DEATH examined his fingernails.

"It would be perfectly within my rights. Your comet would have driven straight into the planet."

"..." DEATH examined the fingernails on his other hand.

"But I need your help."

"OF COURSE YOU DO. OTHERWISE, I WOULD NEVER HAVE WOKEN FROM MY SLEEP."

 

[Itari]

Once a year, on the day of the spring festival, Nari was allowed to leave her rooms to be paraded around the temple. In the past, the temple consisted of a simple dais and a few small buildings. Over the millenia, it had grown around the great tree of their planet, becoming more like a city than a temple. Every year the people would line the streets in droves for the chance to get a glimpse at their goddess. Those lucky enough to be in the front might even get the chance to brush their fingers against her flowing skirts.

The procession, as always, started and ended at the great tree. Nari left her rooms surrounded by her followers. She walked through the streets like a moving art display.

They passed a high end restaurant on a familiar corner. In the past, it had been a cafe. Before that, a small bakery. And before that, a general store.

They passed what was once a beautiful meadow full of lilies that would bloom in various patterns. Now it was a factory that processed ore from other planets.

At the end, Nari was always expected to put on a display of her power. To reaffirm her people's belief in her. To show them that she was indeed still their goddess and connected to this planet.

The people bowed before her, palms turned toward the sky, and for just a moment Nari found that she couldn't stand the sight of them. She quickly turned away, confused. She had always loved her people and her planet. Or had she? For over two thousand years, she gave them everything. Every waking moment of her life was spent caring for the planet and its people. But had that been because she truly cared for them, or was it just because she felt she had to fulfill the duty bestowed on her?

The people began to worry and whisper among themselves. What was wrong with their goddess? What was she doing? Why wasn't she performing for them? Just as the priests started to walk forward, branches sprouted from the ground, twisting into the shape of a flower bud. The bud bloomed, releasing thousands of brightly colored flowers into the sky and the people cheered. The people celebrated and basked in the "love" of their goddess. Little did they know, a seed of doubt had been planted in her. Nari stared up through the haze of petals at the small grey planet visible in the sky. It had been hundreds of years since they last met, but she could hear his voice whispering in her ear. Don't you see how they're using you, love?

When the petals finally settled, the goddess had disappeared from the dais, whisked away to what was starting to seem more and more like a prison cell.

 

[unanun]

"This hardly seems like the most expeditious method."

"WHY SPEND MORE EFFORT THAN YOU HAVE TO?"

DEATH and Grey stood in a gleaming chemistry lab with white lab coats. Inside a fume hood with the sash down stood one round bottom flask, the top attached by a tube to another, smaller flask in a heating mantle. A large crystal sat at the bottom of the large flask.

Grey adjusted his pair of safety goggles, which kept sliding down. "Do we really need these things?"

"NO, BUT ACIDS IN THE EYE HURT. OPEN THE DROPPER."

A thick liquid fell onto the crystal. Drop by drop, puffs of yellow gas emitted from its shiny surface. The gas swayed and swirled, heavy at the bottom of the flask, but its level soon rose like a liquid, and it began to seep upwards through the tubing into the smaller one, hovering over the surface of the melted phenol.

"AAAAAH ... HOW BEAUTIFUL." DEATH leaned down to peer favourably at the chemistry. "BILLIONS ON BILLIONS OF DEATHS IN A DROP OF LIQUID. WE TRULY HAVE BEEN MADE OBSOLETE."

For three full days Grey stared at the green planet through the front viewport of the shuttle, watching it grow larger and larger until it consumed the entire pane of glass. The cost of the trip, adjusted for inflation, changed only the last three digits of the nine figure balance on his credit card. He thought of the receipt that showed the balance before and after - the numbers looked the same.

The planet did not, nearly taken over by the superstructure of the temple. The courtyard housing the tree and the tree itself were both visible well before the shuttle latched onto the space elevator and began its hours long descent through the atmosphere. Grey's face fell in and out of light as the trusses flipped by.

"..."

"..."

Grey and the officer in the booth stared at each other.

"..."

"..."

"I'm sorry ... did you-"

"Identification, please."

"G-"

He shut his mouth, pursed his lips. Swallowed. Furrowed his brows.

"Gre." the holy name refused to leave his mouth.

"Garius!"

A girl dressed in almost perfect mimicry of Lady Growth slapped a card on the table. The fingertips of the officer slid out from under the glass like a cat's paw and dragged the plastic in, to scrutinize the holographic sticker where Grey continuously spun in a circle. The card was cryptographically verified in a reader and it slid back out with a pair of squinted eyes.

"Well then, Garius. Enjoy your stay."

Protests died in his mouth as he was dragged away by the attendant through the organized chaos of the spaceport. The girl waved down a hovercar and shooed him inside.

"Lord Grey." She bowed in the spacious interior as they noiselessly sped down a narrow road, winding through buildings with millimeters of clearance. "It is such a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. You may not know me, but I am the twenty-first generation of the first attendant who guided you to Lady Growth thousands of years ago. We guard eternal the shrine of Gate A12."

"Grandma would have been so happy to know of your return." She raised her head, the tears refracting a constellation of stars in her eyes.

 

[Itari]

The temple was so crowded that it took them over an hour to make the short fifteen mile trip from the space port to the hotel Zenon had prepared. Located about six miles away from the central area where the main festivities were taking place, it was the closest one could get a room to the great tree. Zenon took Grey up the elevator and down several hallways before stopping in front of a room. "Here, 2320, this is your room." She opened the door to an extravagant suite. The room was decorated entirely with various botanical wildlife. Pots and planters full of flowering foliage were in every corner in the room and hung from the ceiling. In the living area, a large portrait made of various colored petals of Lady Growth hung above the couch. Even the carpet was made from a soft moss.

"I hope it's to your liking. We wanted to get you the executive suite, but with the festival going on, we weren't able to book it in time."

The hotel was in the same location as the small inn where Nari used to rent a small room for him. Over the last three hundred years, it transformed into one of the largest and most luxurious hotels on the planet. When Grey entered the room, he spent the first minute simply standing in the small entrance hallway. Zenon sat at one of the tables and began unrolling a sheet of paper. "We've done our best to accommodate your requests, Lord Grey. If you don't mind, I'll go over what we have planned."

The paper Zenon rolled out was a map of the central temple. A circular path was marked out in black. Grey dropped his bag next to the table and sat down silently in the chair across from her. Zenon was about to start explaining but then stopped herself, "Lord Grey, if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you're trying to accomplish?" She blushed slightly and then leaned forward across the table, "Could it be… you're here to rekindle your relationship with Lady Growth and declare your love to her? And then, you'll return to this planet and the two of you will live together until the end of time?"

Grey smiled, which Zenon took as confirmation of her theory. She sighed and sat back in the chair, "How romantic."

"Has Lady… Growth… said anything about us?"

Zenon's smile fell and she looked down at the table, "No, never. But she never spoke of it even when you'd visit her. She still has your jar of dirt though! I think it's on her bedside table. And she often spends her days looking out her window. There's a good view of your planet there! Lately though… I think she's starting to give up. But now you're here! So everything will be better now!"

Grey was silent, a distant, almost wistful look in his eyes. His cupped his hands together in a strange gesture that Zenon didn't understand..

"Anyways," she cleared her throat to get his attention again, "We should get back to business. A week from now, on the last day of the festival, Lady Growth will lead a procession around the Central Temple. It's the most exciting day all year since it's the only time she leaves her rooms. It takes all day and starts and ends at the great tree. This is the route she'll take. We've reserved a spot for you here." Zenon pointed at a spot on the left side of the great tree. "You'll have it for fifteen minutes at the end of the procession when Lady Growth shows us her powers. Is this close enough for you to do your task?"

"We won't be able to meet, like before?"

Zenon laughed. "Of course not. No one sees Lady Growth except for the High Priests and Priestesses and attendants like me. It's forbidden. As I said earlier, she doesn't even leave her chambers. She's strong enough to do everything from there now, so the priests don't want to risk something happening to her."

"Your matriarch, the first of your kind, led me to her!" Zenon shrank back in her chair at Grey's sudden anger.

"That was hundreds of years ago! Things have changed. Lady Growth isn't supposed to leave her rooms. It's not good for her." Zenon frowned slightly. She didn't actually know the reason why Lady Growth was kept confined to the top floor of the temple, only that it had been that way for as long as she could remember. "I'm sorry, my Lord, but it's really not possible, the festival is the only time to see her."

They sat in silence for several long seconds. Zenon could see the defeat on his face, and though her heart broke for him, she knew there was nothing she could say or do to help him meet Lady Growth the way he wished to.

An alarm suddenly went off and Zenon began to quickly gather her things, "I'm so sorry, Lord Grey! I have to go now or I'll be late. I'll leave the map and my number here. Call me if you need anything, and if you get hungry, you can order room service." She rushed to the door and was about to leave, but then turned back to face him, "I'm actually about to go see her. Is there anything you want me to tell her or give to her?"

Grey said nothing, simply staring at the table, "Oh I see, Lord Grey. You want to keep it a surprise don't you?" She winked, "I'll come around and give you a disguise sometime later this week. Let me know if you need anything else!"


Zenon was practically skipping on her way to Lady Growth's rooms. She could hardly contain her excitement. She quickly got in line with the other attendants and the head attendant knocked on the door twice before entering. Lady Growth was sitting in the living room at her computer, which was strange. Usually the attendants had to knock on her bedrooom door. It was difficult to read Lady Growth's facial expressions since her eyes were always covered, but she appeared to look... troubled? Confused? The attendants bowed as one, "Good evening, Lady Growth."

Lady Growth looked up and smiled. Before she closed the page she was looking at, Zenon caught a small glimpse of what appeared to be some sort of bank or card balance. "Good evening everyone. Zenon, you seem to be in a good mood today. Did something happen?"

Zenon's smile grew even wider, "Not yet, Lady Growth, but I expect something good will happen soon!"

 

[unanun]

Morning. A grey planet hung in the sky, close to the sun. Grey squinted at the window. Most of the plants in his room had grown overnight, and he awoke to runners and new leaves touching him all over. Bean sprouts popped up from his mattress of strangely dry moss. Though the moss was soft and inviting, he now wore shoes and gloves to mask the irritation on his skin, and applied a light barrier cream to his face in the mirror.

He was very grey in the full length mirror on his hotel room door, dressed only in fabrics from home - trousers with suspenders and a button down shirt. He placed a piece of paper against the wall and pushed his finger hard against it, leaving only a faint graphitic mark. The result was satisfactory, and he allowed himself to accept a garland of flowers as he stepped out of the lobby, making sure it rested on his collar and did not touch his skin.

The day was perfect. A cool breeze blew away the labours of light exertion, and ample drifting clouds cut the bright warm sun. A narrow, one car street travelled a short distance from the lobby before vanishing into an intersection. At each store, market, or cafe there were people who looked like they had lived their entire lives within walking distance of their home. Sometimes, a repulsor-lift car zipped overhead, but the streets were exclusively for the foot. Grey took breakfast in one such cafe, a shack stapled together from wood that had bloomed a three story residence above. From an oven that exhausted into the wall the owner pulled steaming bread with a bubbling egg, and that cost Grey a few credits from his card. He left with a small flower stuck through the button hole of his collar.

The shadows of the buildings pointed him to the central street right as they vanished under the noon sun. Grey found himself in a sea of stone and leaves, sucked into the frenzy of a festival that seemed to have been going on for months.

"Ho there, Sir! An offering to celebrate the showing? Thank you very much indeed, Sir!" Another small flower joined the one from breakfast.

"Flowers! A bouquet of flowers for this dashing gentleman! Don't look so drab today!"

Every time he stepped away from a vendor a busker would accost him, and the busker passed him on to an artist, who then pushed him to a musician. On and on he was twirled through the celebration, and although he was breathless from the first step the festival had already begun to wind down, though he was only aware of it as the sun became orange in the late afternoon. At last the gentle trills of crickets broke him from the trance as he came to in a largely empty square, where lanterns swayed back and forth like fireflies in the rainbow twilight. He stumbled back into the lobby with plants hanging off of both arms and decorated neck to toe in a dazzling array of annuals. It was well past midnight by the time he had placed every flower into a pot.

 

[Itari]

There were only a few hours left before the procession. Soft hands carefully brushed through Nari's hair before twisting it around her headdress into complicated braids and decorating with various flowers or wood hair pins. Other attendants straightened out the wrinkles and brushed imperceptible specks of dust off her dress. It was the most extravagant piece of clothing Nari had ever worn. Sleeveless, with a huge collar made of twisting wood that would allow for small birds and other animals to perch in it, it was decorated with small branches twisted into complicated lace patterns and small, bright flowers. A huge circular train several feet long extended from the back. Nari hated it. It was gaudy, uncomfortable, and had taken her multiple attempts to grow until the designer had been satisfied. Grey would've hated it, too. Or, he would hate it, if he came to the procession. She had checked the credit card's transaction history everyday since the first day of the festival, believing that one day, she would wake up and find she had hallucinated the charge. It wasn't a dream though, and he was here. Just when she had come to accept they may never see each other again. Just as she was about to stop depositing money for him. The bastard.

Zenon twisted and pinned the last piece of hair into place. "All done!" The attendants flocked around her, performing one more set of checks. "Shall we give you some time to yourself before the start of the procession?"

"I have something to say to Zenon. The rest of you may go." The attendants bowed and filed out the room one by one. Zenon stood by the door, her hands folded in front of her.

"What is it, Lady Growth?"

Nari waited until they were the only ones left in the room, "What has Grey been doing since he got here?"

The girl began to wring her hands anxiously. She had always been a terrible liar. "I-I don't know what you're talking about Lady Growth."

"Peter saw you eating lunch with him yesterday."

Zenon broke into tears and immediately threw herself on the ground, "I'm sorry Lady Growth! He said he wanted it to be a surprise! I just wanted to help him declare his love to you! We haven't done anything bad, I promise!"

Nari raised an eyebrow. Declaring his love for her? During the procession? A spectacle she'd pay to see if only to see the discomfort and annoyance on his face. Unfortunately though, not likely. "Stand up, Zenon. I'm not angry. I just… I just want to know what he's been doing during the festival."

Nari helped the attendant to her feet and patted her gently on the back while she collected herself. "He goes out every day to enjoy the festival. The vendors all know him now. They call him 'The Grey Man' and give him flowers and try to sell him clothes and compete to see who can get him to look the 'least boring.'"

Nari smiled at the thought of Grey being showered in flowers, "Will you see him today?"

Zenon looked at the ground, "Yes. On one of my breaks during the procession."

"Then please pass a message to him."

Zennon clung to her dress, eyes sparkling, "Of course! Should I tell him you miss him? Or perhaps the two of you have some secret love language you use?"

Nari chuckled, "No, nothing of the sort. Just tell him... 'I'm glad you enjoyed the festival."'

 

[unanun]

The climax of the festival was today. Grey had forgotten about the schedule, but he knew because he woke beneath a sea of green, the sprouts so tall on either side that they touched in the middle above his head. He rolled to the side and fell without noise on an equally thick bed of moss, bloomed flowers tracking his every move as if he was their sun. His fingers came away from his face ashen, the worst of all every day he had been on the planet.

As soon as the sun broke the horizon the door began to knock. The dull tone insisted until Grey finally cracked it open to glare down at Zenon. She was dressed in a white chemise, over which rested a wooden frame with many hooks and branches, attachment points for her future decorations.

"So?!" Zenon pushed the door and slammed her forehead into the wood as it arrested on the security chain. "Ow!! Hey, let me in!"

The door shut and burst open properly as Zenon flowed in, spinning and taking in all the newly greened flora with glee. She clutched her hands to her breast, nearly in tears. "Oh, oh … so beautiful! Oh, my Lord, see how the Lady welcomes you home!" She cupped a flower to sniff its bouquet and gasped when it twisted back to Grey, smearing pollen all over her face as she wiped away tears (which did not seem to affect her in the slightest, brightening her face with beautiful shades of yellow).

Grey sighed. The flowers that he had carefully placed in vases were already wilting, covered by the vibrant bloom of everything else. He carefully stripped his pajamas and stood in a center of dead moss while Zenon applied a paste of loess and humus to his skin.

"In your absence, we have been researching ways to keep you healthy here, Lord. Some of us don't share the delusion that reuniting the two of you will simply be perfect; our oral history says otherwise."

On top of the drying layer of decay, she wrapped bandages of water-softened straw and other dead grass, and finished with a simple linen tunic. Finally, she affixed a wooden frame to his body, similar to hers.

"Do I have to wear this the whole day?"

"I'm afraid so." Zenon clasped her hands in front of her with a sympathetic smile. "But I hope our preparations will make it comfortable for you."

The first beam of sunlight entered the room and startled Zenon. "I have to go!! I'm late! You can leave whenever you want, but make sure you're there for the final procession!"

The door reopened five minutes later; Grey was still rooted to his spot, the dead moss underneath his feet the one solace today. "Oh, and the Lady says that she is happy you are enjoying the festival!" and slammed shut on his raised eyebrow.

 

[Itari]

The people were in a frenzy. They shouted and begged for her to look at them, to give them a smile or any other form of acknowledgement. Others picked and ate flowers off of her absurdly long train, believing them to give good health and luck. Rows of priests did their best to keep the crowd back, lest they overwhelm their god. Despite all the chaos around her, Nari only had eyes for one person. A part of her thought that she must be dreaming. He looked miserable, wearing that ridiculous wood frame. She frowned, her eyebrows knitting together in worry. He was so pale the yellow light of the setting sun seemed to shine through him. Wisps of dust blew off of him with every slight breeze. Was Zenon treating him well? Did she make sure his room was clear of living plants? Did she spread dirt or dust on the floor? For what was simultaneously the longest and shortest few seconds of her life, they simply stared at each other. She took a step towards him at the same time he moved forward, his name on her lips. A priest suddenly appeared, blocking her field of view and taking hold of her elbow, "Lady Growth, are you unwell?"

Nari attempted to look around the priest and find Grey in the crowd. "I'm fi-"

Another priest took hold of her on the opposite side, "Let us take you back to your rooms." A third priest gave her a small shove from behind and together the three of them gently but firmly steered her away from the crowd. She looked back once to see a lonely figure retreating into the crowd.

 

[unanun]

Grey was not the first to take his spot in the field, but he was close to the first, taking root in a field that looked like it could hold a million saplings. As supplicants filled the space, what was once a field of trimmed grass slowly bloomed with the shrubbery of the wooden frames on each person. They came in shy at first, little woodland creatures creeping out into the open, but as they planted themselves in their designated spots the boldness of newcomers grew, and soon a steady stream was filtering in as the sun approached noon. As Grey was obscured from view by saplings all around him, he carefully twisted his foot into the ground, withering a small, safe circle of decay around him. The soothing humus kept his skin moist, and he didn't feel like he was about to crumble to pieces like in the hotel room.

The frames grew green and strong and budded as the showing drew nigh, the tips of the buds barely holding together under the pressure of the flower inside. A hushed anticipation smothered the murmuring of the cloud.

There!

At the edge of the field burst a spectacular cloud of pollen, mushrooming yellow into the sky with a spray of flower petals. Then another! Frames burst into full bloom, the flowers blowing their petals into the sky and firming up into bright fruit. Berries, citrus, apples, all the manners of nightshades. In front of Nari the frames burst, and in her wake she left a constellation of edible life. The wake spread exponentially behind her and reflected off the circular edges of the field like a wave, and soon the entire space was filled with blinding pollen and petals.

Through all the stars in his view Grey could still see Nari, as clear and distinguishable as the bright green sphere he saw from his own grey home. Was she walking towards him? She knew - of course she knew, there was no way she could not know. But by the time he reached out, it was to her back. He slowly pulled his fist back to his chest, clasping the other hand that firmly gripped the bottle of liquid dioxin.

Grey was not the first to take his spot in the field, but he was the last to leave. No one took note of that one wilted black spot of grass, but that might have been where it all started.

 

[Itari]

"Lady Growth, do you know what it is?"

Nari stared at the object in front of her and did her best to keep a straight face, "It's a leaf."

The High Priests and Priestesses exchanged uneasy glances with one another, "Lady Growth, please look again. It may look like a leaf at first, but it's brown and desiccated. It's nothing like any of the leaves we have here."

Nari sighed and sat back in her chair and resisted the urge to rub her temples. Had the High Priests always been this… irritating? "Yes, because it's dead."

This seemed to alarm them even more, "Dead? That's impossible! The vegetation here never dies!"

"Perhaps not now, but it has in the past. A dead leaf does not mean the tree itself is dying. It could simply be dropping its leaves, the way every other tree does in the galaxy. Even the great tree has dropped its leaves before."

"But this has not happened in several hundred years at least, Lady Growth!"

Suddenly the five of them were crowding around her, grabbing her hands and touching her forehead, "Lady Growth, could it be that you really are unwell?"

"You were acting strangely at the festival."

"Shall we call a doctor for you?"

"I'll have the kitchens make something for you!"

"I'm fine!" Nari stood, pushing them all away from her. "I understand you are all worried, but there's no need to fret over a single leaf. The great tree has billions of leaves. It will survive. Now if you'll excuse me."

"Wait Lady Growth!"

"Where are you going?"

She walked to her bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind her. The Priests stared, unsure what to do. It was the one room they dared not enter without her permission.

"…"

"She's never done that before."

"Gather the attendants. Tell them they are to keep a close eye on the Lady Growth and watch for any signs of illness."

Nari noticed it later that night after her bath. At first, she thought she was imagining things, but upon closer inspection the mark was unmistakable. A tiny brown dot on the bright green scar on her chest where the great tree had pierced and planted its roots in her. It wasn't surprising to see. Despite what she told the High Priests, she knew the dead leaf was an omen. She had sensed that something was wrong with the great tree since the end of the Spring Festival. She wasn't sure how long it would take, but the ancient organism had started to die. Grey had done something to it. Was that why he had come here? Not for her, but for this. Did he realize though that he was killing her as well? The two were connected. No, it was more accurate to say that Nari was a part of the great tree. If it died, then Nari would as well. If Nari died though, the people would choose another to take her place. She knew she should be worried. Worried for the planet, her people, and her life. Instead though, she only had a vague feeling of anticipation.

 

[unanun]

The morning after the festival, dawn pried Grey awake to a mostly barren room. Around him were wilted and brown stalks, and crunchy leaves carpeted the floor. Overnight the moss mattress had compacted into wood-like planks, and Grey rubbed his sore back, wincing as he slid his seat bones across the mattress and dropped to his feet. Dead matter crumbled and coated his soles as he moved to the bathroom.

This room was closer to the ones that Nari had prepared for him, when he came to visit. When things were getting busy for her and he couldn't visit her anymore, back when she was living in an apartment above the cafe that they had used to frequent.

Grey, look! Nari swirled in her beautiful white sun dress. Every twirl threw small soft pink petals into the air. The cafe below is doing so well! They said it's because of me, and gave me a little room up top. They said it's a shrine, their way of thanking me.

"..." The room was just in the way it used to be. It couldn't have been the poison.

"Zenon? I'm afraid we have no record of a guest of that name, Garius." The concierge wore a suit of green leaves, grown over their body from a seed worn on their chest. "In fact, we don't have any record of visitors for your suit. Did you meet her in the lobby? We don't log patrons in the public areas of the building."

For a few days Grey wandered the perimeter of the hotel. He traversed the streets around the building like the petals of a flower, drawing a new petal each day. The overgrowth of the festival slowly faded, the bloom transitioning to lush green that sometimes provided a pleasant shade for the entirety of his day's walk. He particularly enjoyed the ginkgo trees. Their leaves looked like fans.

Eventually, he simply sat in his room. He ate twice a day, an early lunch and dinner, retired with sunset and rose with dawn. Most of the day he sat straight backed at the edge of his mattress, watching the leaves on the floor slowly crumble to dust. Sometimes he made a small cushion for his behind. He had done worse things with his time.

 

[Itari]

A holographic display of a credit card balance hovered above her desk. The balance had gone down again today. Nari could never bring herself to look at the specific purchases, as it felt like an invasion of privacy. But she also couldn't stop herself from opening up the balance everyday to see if he was still here. Her eyebrows furrowed. If he didn't return home soon, his health would be put at serious risk. Her hand inadvertently went to her chest, where the small brown mark of dessication had appeared. What was he doing? Hadn't he accomplished his goal already? Two sharp knocks at her door interrupted her thoughts and she closed the display with a flick of her wrist. Her attendants piled into the room, including Zenon, who seemed to be in a considerably bad mood.

"Oh, Lady Growth! You're already out of bed and dressed. We'll go get you breakfast then."

"I'll stay here just in case Lady Growth needs something." The other attendants went back down to the kitchens while Zenon pulled out a chair at the table. As Nari sat down, she inexplicably burst into tears, "Lady Growth, I'm so sorry! I thought he would- I thought you two.."

She devolved into a blubbering mess and Nari found herself at a loss. She patted the girl on the shoulder a couple times, "Zenon. Please. It's fine." She handed her a leaf and Zenon noisily blew her nose, "Calm down, now Zenon. What will everyone else think when they come back?"

"I just don't know why he didn't do it! And now he's gone and you'll never see each other again!" She began crying with a renewed vigor.

Nari stood up from the chair and offered it to Zenon instead. She handed her small pile of leaves to blow her nose on, "Zenon, there's really nothing to cry over. I wasn't expecting anything." This seemed to only make her cry harder, if that was possible. "There's still hope. He hasn't left yet..."

Zenon looked up at Nari, her eyes sparkling with hope, "He-he hasn't? How do you know?"
"I-"

"No, what am I saying? Of course you know! After all that's just a part of being in love isn't it?"

"No, not exa-"

"Lady Growth, I swear! I will make this up to you."

"That's really not nec-

"I know! I'm going to find Lord Grey and then beat him upside the head and bring him here to you!"

"I don't think he w-"

"I'm sorry, Lady Growth! I'm going to take the rest of the day off!"

And just like that, the girl was gone.