Season 1: Episode 3 – The Open Door

This series contains mature themes and is intended for adult listeners.

>Begin Porta Cor imprint.<

Afanen asked me today why we cannot keep birds in cages, as humans do.

It was a strange question at first. I had no idea where she learned about humans. She said they were learning about humans in school, from the observation teams. They talked about how humans turned wild animals into domestic pets—dogs, cats, fish, even birds kept in cages.

I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable with the thought that they were already teaching this. “Well, Afanen,” I began, “would you want to live in a cage if you were born to fly free in the skies?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment as her tiny hands played with a lock of my golden hair. Finally, she said, “No, I would not.”

I nodded to her and added, “The birds do not want to live in a cage either, sweet girl. They want to be free like us. They were meant to be free, like us.”

“Then why do the humans do it?” she asked.

“I don’t really know,” I answered.

Maybe they didn’t realize what they were doing when they started.

And by the time they did, it was already too late.

In the months since the Porta Segreta has been in operation, life in Teithia, even quite possibly Anturia, had not changed quite the way we expected. But it had changed all the same.

Today, we held the council’s final general session of the season. No more council meetings would be called over the next month unless there was an emergency.

“Everything is going so splendidly,” Mallaidh told me as we left the council chamber at the end of the session. “Our resource teams report we have enough minerals for our creation systems to keep survival needs met for the next fifty years.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Well, that is important. We all need to eat.” I was being slightly sardonic, but she missed it.

“To think, I had some doubts about this Porta Segreta in the beginning, what a notion! This has altered our lives so much for the better. Don’t you think, Bryn?” She didn’t wait for me to answer but hurried along the corridor. 

Dahlfia fell into line beside me as Mallaidh was now outpacing me, and Oswalt still trailed behind me as he had since I left the chamber with Mallaidh.

“I’ll see you next month,” Mallaidh called back to me before she hurried off to chat with Murithir.

“Yes,” was all I could reply before she left the hallway for Murithir’s office. I peeked inside as I walked by and saw him close the door with a pointed look at me first before snapping it shut all the way.

“Have a nice break,” I murmured to the wall.

Dahlfia laughed softly. “She’s too busy for you, Bryn.”

“Apparently.”

“I know we’re not supposed to spy on each other,” Dahlfia added.

“But you have been.” I completed her sentence for her, and Oswalt chuckled behind me.

“Yes, and she and Murithir have been meeting behind closed doors a lot.” She lifted her eyebrows to me.

“Do you think they’re involved?” I lifted my eyebrows back at her, then looked down at the hallway at the closed door, trying to picture what might be happening in there, and then started laughing.

Dahlfia and Oswalt started laughing too. “I don’t even want to imagine that relationship, Bryn. How horrid. But seriously now, what are you doing during your break?”

We stepped into the administrative offices and stood in the open area for a moment as I turned to face her and Oswalt, “I am going home to garden in the roses with my granddaughter, Afanen. My daughter is putting the finishing touches on her architecture project to pitch to the council next session: a new auditorium in Teithia to attract more arts and culture to the city. I promised to give her some free time so she could finish, and I promised Afanen I would teach her all about roses this year. Apparently, last year I told her she was too young to wait for next year.” I laughed softly.

Dahlfia laughed too, “They remember those things!”

“Always!” I agreed. “What are you two doing?”

“Apparently, I am going to be spying on everyone and expecting invitations to dinner, since I live alone.” Dahlfia looked at me and then at Oswalt, expectantly. 

Oswalt beamed, “Well, you know my wife will welcome you to our table any time you choose to visit us! We will be waiting for you. My wife and I will be using this month to explore painting. We’ve both always wanted to try, and she’s used our creator to generate all sorts of paints, colors, brushes, and canvas types.”

“Well, that sounds fun,” I told Oswalt. “You and Siriolaf are always doing fun things during your breaks. I will be expecting all of you for dinner, together or separately, as often as you please. However, I am a neat freak, Oswalt. So, leave your paints at home.” I waggled my finger at him.

We all exchanged friendly hugs, then parted ways to our offices to pack up and leave. I couldn’t wait to see Afanen this afternoon; she’d told me before I left this morning that we were to begin without delay.

The afternoon was beautiful, and it was approaching yr haf, which humans call summer. The climate here, in the northeastern parts of Landoris where Teithia lies, is perfect for roses. As I approached my yard and saw the brilliant roses all around the front, full of color and vibrancy, I knew this was the absolute truth.

I opened the gate to my sidewalk and stepped inside, and Afanen, my gold-haired granddaughter, who was the spitting image of me at age six, came running out the door of our home to greet me halfway down the sidewalk.

“Nain, Nain!” she exclaimed enthusiastically, reaching her little arms up for me to hug her. I obliged, picking her up off the ground, hugging her, and then swinging her gently around in a semi-circle.

“Afanen, Afanen!” I exclaimed back to her. “Are you ready to learn about roses?”

“Yes, Nain. I’m ready. I’m much more grown than last year.” I set her down and tapped her on the nose, “Yes, you are.”

I dropped my things from the office down on the front porch, waved to my daughter through the window as she worked at her desk, then grabbed a little basket from the gardening shed I had tucked away last week. “Come sit by me,” I said to her, as I sat on the step to the front porch with the basket in my lap. She did so and looked at the basket with excitement.

I pat the basket gently, “A rose gardener is only as good as her passion…” I paused for effect, “and her tools. So today, I give you your first rose gardening tool.”  I removed the cloth covering from the top of the basket and pulled out a pair of thick but small gloves, perfect for her tiny hands. “Gloves.” 

“So I don’t get poked by the thorns!” she added, gleefully taking the gloves from me as I held them out to her. She put them on and clapped her hands together.

“Do they feel good?” I asked her. She nodded back.

The next day, Afanen and I were going to go into town to do some shopping and give her mom some more free time, but as we started to leave the house, she said, “Nain, wait! Can we see Kylah? She wanted to show me a new necklace she made. It’s all sparkly and full of elemental magic!” Afanen’s eyes opened wide in effect.

I smiled, “Of course we can.” I took her hand, and we headed to the house next door, where Kylah Marie lived with her mother-in-law and her sister. Like me, she lost a husband and a son together in an accident. Actually, it was the same accident, but I’ll tell the story another time.

Kylah’s sister, Arianwen, opened the door after we knocked, “Bryn and Afanen! What a delight! Come on in. Kylah and Ffion will be so happy you’re here.” She was a relatively short but slender woman with silver skin, short silver hair swept in sweeping angles around her face, and beautiful violet eyes.

Ffion entered, and while her face didn’t look old, none of us did; her eyes marked the wisdom of being older. Actually, she was about forty years younger than me, but forty years was a drop in the ocean for us. She greeted us, and both of them led us into the sitting room.

We sat talking for a moment in greeting, and then Kylah entered the room. She was taller than her sister and very muscular. Kylah used to enter fighting competitions, but I never fought her directly in competition as I was much taller than she was.  However, we had practiced together before. Physical fitness has always been essential to our people.

Kylah smirked a greeting at me and then ran up to Afanen, dropping herself down onto the floor in front of her. “And how is my favorite future rose gardener today?” She asked with a wink up to me.

“Oh, Kylah!” Afanen exclaimed to her, “Nain got me a pair of gloves all my own! They fit and everything!”

Kylah responded appropriately by clapping her hands together in joy, “That’s amazing! Now you can handle the roses without getting those dratted thorns stuck in you!”

Afanen nodded. Kylah said, “Do you remember what I told you that I would show you the next time I saw you?”

“Yes!” Afanen nearly jumped up off her chair in response. “The necklace!”

Kylah pulled a silver necklace with beautiful yellow-and-white gems that looked like roses from her pocket and held it up to Afanen. It sparkled in the room’s light and in the sun streaming through the window. Afanen was mesmerized for a moment by it.

“Is it really magic?” she asked Kylah.

“Absolutely!” she confirmed. “The person wearing it can always feel how much they are loved, so when they’re scared, they can be brave.”

She opened the clasp of the necklace and put it around Afanen’s neck. “And now it’s yours! If you ever feel afraid, know that your mom, your Nain, Kylah, Ffion, and Arianwen all love you so much! Then everything will be okay.” I watched her lean down and kiss Afanen on the forehead, and Afanen gave Kylah a hug and a proper “Thank you so much!”

We stayed and had tea with them for about an hour, then decided to run our errands in town. As we got up to leave, Kylah said she was going as well, since she had some business in a couple of the shops. So, we decided to walk together to the shopping district.

It was the perfect day, and the perfect walk. I held Afanen’s right hand, and Kylah held her left hand as we walked. Once we reached the busy shopping area, Kylah said goodbye and walked down the street, away from us.

Afanen saw a pretty garden flag in the window of a store, and we turned to look at it. Then we turned and walked down a couple of stores to find the one I wanted to visit. I happened to see Kylah talking to one of the Councilors, Eira. I watched their friendly but brief interaction and looked up to find a couple of others watching me from across the street. And then their gaze shifted over to Kylah and Eira.

Kylah and Eira parted ways, and I looked back across the street, and the two that were there were now gone. I shrugged, and Afanen and I went shopping and had another splendid afternoon together.

When I got back home that evening, my daughter took Afanen to the dinner table, and I went to listen to the council update that still gets sent weekly to all councilors, even during the break.

I leaned back in my chair at my desk, “Begin Porta Cor Council Message,” I said. Closing my eyes, I listened.

“Everything is going well still with the Porta Segreta, our teams on Earth, and the humans. 

From the observation teams: We have noted that some of the more primitive humans we have interacted with are now worshipping us. In contrast, others seem to have absorbed our language and are using a rudimentary form of it in their conversations. They sometimes struggle with pronunciation, but they learn much more quickly than we anticipated. This is a promising sign.

From the resource teams: We have discovered additional elements here that are not present in Anturia, and we will be evaluating their properties and usefulness. Some of these resources will be depleted in the future, so we may need to return to earlier eras to acquire them.”

>Councilors’ comments <

“Great job, all!“

“Let’s keep it going.”

“Everything is running so well.”

I couldn’t take it anymore, “End Porta Cor Council Message.”

That evening, I tucked Afanen into bed and sat in the chair beside her to read her a story. Before I began, she asked me, “Nain, why can’t we have a bird in a cage as the humans have?”

>End Porta Cor imprint.<