I Didn't Save You to be Boring

The dunes once again hummed with the rickety engine of a sand boat. There were three of them, but unlike previous rides, the other two were towed along by the first in a ferry line. Unlike the more recent attempts by the pirates, this ride went smoothly, as the driver calmly drifted across the sand without disturbing the surface too much. The convoy parked at the dock carved into the mountain without a peep from the worms. Past the smoke room and up the scalae came Vinisoya Manor.

This was only the work of one veteran. The rest arrived on the desert path by Kukchi, their hats and ponchos blowing in the wind as they rode.

In most other situations, the sound of arriving Kukchis would invoke a call to arms to meet with the strangers, but the men blew a horn a kilometer out over the hills, so when the crew of Pandemians came up from a brief underpass to meet them, the families greeted them with open arms.

"Yapul, Brisark, Popolo!" Maed-Laio hugged them individually. "It's good to see you back."

"It's good to be back, Maed," said Yapul. He lifted a hefty, jingling bag. "Especially with all this money we got!"

"Amazing! It's really in high demand, isn't it?" She looked back to see the fourth, Girgo, arriving from the canyon. "You're not planning another trip so soon, are you?"

"We got another boat to make the trips faster. That way, we can get fresher meat on the market."

"Of course." That was the obvious answer. However, Maed had her fellow wives in mind. "You're gonna have to wait, though. Snu and the girl are on an errand for a few hours.""A girl?" The boys all gathered for this. "Snu got himself a girl? I knew that boy had charm! How're they getting along?"

Several kilometers away, Sam was on a Kukchi with Snu yelling in her ear.

"C'mon! Fly with me, Sam!"

"No!"

"It'll be so much fun!"

"No!" This conversation had been going on ever since they left the manor. The sun was hot, and the riding was rough. Sam was dressed correctly this time with a wide-brimmed hat and an abaya, but it didn't come with earplugs. "Why do you have to be so childish!?"

"You're the child here!" Snu huffed. "Flying is easy. Even a kid can do it!"

"Takes one to know one, huh!"

The task that brought them into the desert was to ring up a ferryman who stopped in the area via the minecart system. From there, the Vinisoyas could trade with the underground Rydian town 30 kilometers west. They stopped at a random hole in the ground on a hill and could see the cart tracks from there. Sand boat, Kukchi, minecart, Pandemians knew how to traverse the desert.

A few minutes later, the two could hear carts rolling beneath them, screeching with iron scraping against iron. Once it stopped, an older man with bushy facial hair and bug eyes popped from the hole.

"Oh, Vinisnu," said the merchant. "You made a new friend. How wonderful."

"This is Sam. She's an alien from outer space."

The man gave a hard look at her. She was mostly covered up, but her pale face was a dead giveaway. "I'm not getting into this. Here's something nice for Maed-Laio. From her sisterhood." He handed over a threaded necklace with a jewel at the end. It glowed with an almost supernatural hue.

"Thanks. I'll make sure she gets it. Here's Redstreak meat to pay for transit." He provided a stuffed bag made of a Redstreak's stomach.

The merchant nodded. "There's been some strange sightings lately if you haven't heard, Vinisnu. Strange bugs have been popping around the capital. They look like they're manufactured." He looked at Sam. "You know anything about it?"

Sam was vibrating with anticipation. "Those are reconnaissance drones! My...people made those. They're completely harmless. We use them to study and learn Rydian and other languages. We mean you no harm!"

The grizzled merchant waited to give a response, watching the girl. If Sam had been better prepared, she would've given a more elegant statement. She was dropping vital information on a random stranger and had no idea what would become of it, but there was no turning back now. The best she could do was learn and be polite.

The man turned to Snu. "You keep an eye on her."

"Of course!" Snu perked up. "I'll protect her."

The Pandemian shook his head but didn't press further. He finished the transaction and rolled back into the caverns below, leaving the two to carry the haul.

As soon as the trader left, an eerie silence fell over the couple as if something was meant to be said. Sam could predict the words. "What is it?"

"You have to fly with me."

"No!"

"Why not!?"

Sam groaned. "Why do I have to? I don't want to die!"

"You won't if I teach you right!"

"And what if you don't!? I was almost eaten, Snu. I've been in its mouth, vomited on! I'm traumatized over that valley, and you keep badgering me about it! Why do you care!? Why do you risk your life for some stupid meat!?"

"Because it's my duty as the man of this house!"

"Great, 'cause I'm a woman, so I get to stay with Maed and the others."

Snu stepped forward as if he were about to fight. "No, you don't! You're different! You're strong and smart, and you know a lot of things that I don't! How can we take the glider around and explore Ryza if you're too scared even to try!? You're an alien! I thought you were here to do something amazing! I didn't rescue you just for you to be so…boring!"

It took Sam a moment to process what he just said to her. Once she did, she proceeded to strangle him. "You little shit! Take that back right now!"

The ride back was quiet but tense as the two rode the Kukchi home. They glared in opposite directions.

The preparations for the hunt went smoothly for the Pandemians. Yapul and the team had brought the extra fuel needed to run the Ublanethian glider. It was a unique piece of hardware that required hard-to-obtain components. Hunting a Redstreak didn't require flying per se, but it was a good opportunity for the men to understand the machine's inner workings.

"I brought some replacement parts we nicked off some old automatons," Yapul said. "Imagine if we could mass produce these babies. Forget rich. We'd be royalty! Speaking of which, where's your girlfriend, Snu?"

Snu turned away in a huff, focusing on his work. "She's not my girlfriend."

While the men tended to their toys, Maed-Laio went around the house to find Sam in the oasis, angrily tending to the remaining chores. She approached her from behind. Initially, it was hard to gauge her, but her puffy face showed everything when she turned.

"You're a strange one, aren't you?" Maed said. "You act like a princess but speak nothing like one."

"I just want to go home," Sam said. "I don't belong here."

"Don't belong, eh? Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Your Majesty. I'm sorry my hospitality wasn't enough."

Sam sniveled. Maed sounded like her mother, a resemblance that turned Sam's pout into a cry. It only incensed Maed further.

However, Maed tucked that temper away. Sam wasn't her son, but she couldn't treat her like a stranger. This otherwordly being had to be treated differently. As much as she detested it, she had to think of Sam like a daughter.

"Did you know I was a princess too?"

"A princess?" Sam thought about correcting her.

"I'm from a country called Sermouth. It used to be a horrid and cruel land. I was my father's loyal right hand, a rider of Raes, and a magician of dark powers, but even then, I was never myself. I was hypnotized, a puppet, until a certain wild boy defeated me in combat. Not long after, that boy would destroy Sermouth and my father."

"Let me guess," Sam replied, questioning how true it was. "That's Mr. Vinisoya, right?"

Maed pressed against her chest. "I was such a weak, cruel little girl back then, given all this power without the strength to save myself, but Kalin showed me the way, and I believe Snu can show you your way as well."

Sam blushed. "It's nothing like that. I just don't wanna risk my life over something stupid.""Women do need to tame their husbands," Maed said but knew this wasn't persuasive. She looked into the garden. "See those four tombstones?"

"Those are tombstones? Nothing's written on them."

"They weren't old enough to be given names. Snu was the only one who made it. The frontier is the adversary of life, and we've fought it bloody, but despite that, I don't stop Snu from following his heart because I know he is truly living up there. For me, telling him to stop is tantamount to killing him. What do you think?"

Sam looked up, watching Vinisnu do tricks across the sky, watching the intricacies of the machine. It pulled out a romanticism that she thought died a long time ago. And yet, in the skies of a strange new world, it endured. "I think...his glider is really cool."