Wolf Boy Returns from Space: Chapter 17, Part II

The next day, a messenger arrived at Bamburgh Castle and asked to speak to Pan.

Ears perked, Xaiver fetch him and Kaiden. “You want to meet up here?” he said, glancing around the study.

Xaiver, Pan bet, would choose a different venue.

Pan said, “The pilgrims are gone. Are there tourists in the Great Hall?”

“Not for another hour,” Xavier said.

He proceeded Pan and Kaiden to the hall, Phillipe slouching behind.

The Great Hall was not as old as other areas of the castle. A gap of eight-hundred years existed between its construction and the period it represented—like so much Nostalgic Architecture.

Whatever its origins, it suited a messenger (and a prince). It was a long, narrow room with a vaulted ceiling of swooping interconnected beams. Tall windows along one side let in soft sunlight. The wood floor glowed. The paintings of people in ancient dress shimmered.

The bodyguards were already present and turned as Xavier, then Pan and Kaiden entered. Phillipe slumped in the doorway, hands in pockets.

A person waited in the hall’s center: a female human, arms folded as she swiveled to study the paintings and beams and suits of armor. 

“Ana!” Kaiden said.

She fully turned, scowling, but then, Ana had always scowled. She was a slender woman with set shoulders and nearly black eyes under winged brows. If she was an Anthros, she would resemble an Indri lemur.

She was one of the Amunites who traveled to Mars at the same time as Pan and Kaiden. She returned with one of the sect’s leaders, Iris, almost five years ago. Kaiden’s parents returned at the same time. Kaiden moved into the dorms; he was eighteen by then.

Ana and Iris and Kaiden’s parents rejoined Amunite members on Earth. Kaiden may consider himself lapsed—though he held onto certain beliefs—but the Amunites were a still-operating sect. 

“You’re taller,” Ana said, crossing the remaining space to shake hands with Kaiden. She glanced sideways at Pan. “You too,” she said. “I guess I can see what all the fuss is about.”

For the first time since all this mishegoss started (one of Allec's terms), Pan felt utterly flummoxed though Xavier laughed and Kaiden shrugged agreement. 

“Thank you,” Pan said, deciding that any other response would take the conversation down an unnecessary path.

“Are you really going to attend Queen Artia’s court?” 

“Any reason he shouldn’t?” Kaiden said, and Pan picked up an approving murmur at the question from the bodyguards.

Ana considered. “Not exactly,” she said. “Lots of diplomats and such would stop her squirreling you off to some deep-forest retreat. But she’s going to ask you to stay with her here on Earth.”

Pan knew that. He inclined his head anyway. Nice to have my deductions confirmed.  

“But you didn’t go to Reforested Greenland first—despite your foster parents, Raine and Ruella being there?”

“I needed more information,” Panfilo said, and now Phillipe gave an approving murmur. 

“While Mr. Catholic and his lackey visit the Moon?”

Unlike Panfilo and Kaiden, Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider hadn’t disguised their destination after the ship. Pan imagined the forums must be brainstorming wild and implausible (and possibly correct) suppositions for their actions.

He said, “Canon Lider is visible now.”

Not a non sequitur. His investigators deserved respect.

“Is he? Cute? Enough to explain the priest’s devotion?”

“They seem to get along,” Pan said, not mentioning what Allec had told him about Lider and Monseigneur Rhys's struggles. Pan couldn’t fathom lack of touch in his own life.

Ana smiled suddenly, an unexpected lightening of her expression. “You were diplomatic as a kid. Reserved, at least. I remember that. Look, people know that your detectives are on the Moon. People know they visited Moon Cloning Operations, which isn't as shut down as everyone claims. The theory that you are some kind of replica is out there now. And the Amunites thought you should know what we know. Maybe you already do. Maybe you don't.”

“A briefing is always appreciated.”

“Sure. Anyway, there are lots of Anthros groups that push against the established doctrine. Far more Anthros don’t buy into the idea that Anthros arrived on Earth 200 years ago. The Amunites have missionaries with several of those groups. Not on Reforested Greenland, of course. But in other places.”

“Lots of Anthros don't care when they arrived.”

Ana seemed to struggle with the idea that people could ignore religious dogma. She made a “shooing” gesture with her hands.

She said, “But some of them do care, and they care a lot. There are groups that believe Anthros arrived here eons ago, that they became part of human history. And when that Cubus attached to the Devil's Advocate recognized you—”

“Will’s observations are common knowledge?”

Ana said almost loftily, “Our leaders have Cubi too, you know. Not that Cubi communicate much. Iris thinks dealing with Cubi is a matter of meditation and self-sacrifice. I think they like to keep secrets. But yeah, everything gets out.”

Kaiden said suddenly, “No such thing as a conspiracy when sentient beings are involved.”

One of Allec's beliefs. And not true in the short run—nobody on the station had guessed Junad’s agenda in the months before he attacked Pan—but true in the long-run. Everything leaked, seeped into being-to-being discourse, ideas and thoughts. 

Which means I need to figure out what I believe about my own story before other people start doing it for me.

Ana said, “Groups of Anthros in the British kingdoms connect themselves to the past, medieval times.”

Pan said, “Do any of those groups connect themselves to kings?”

Xavier whistled softly. Ana produced another unexpected smile, and her eyes held a gleam of appreciation.

“Yes. They guard or protect or worship—I think it is a more about guardianship—the graves of ancient kings.”

Maybe it’s time to accept my mother's stories.