Prince of Attania, 2

Ostensibly, Jet was in Parrion to meet with city leaders to discuss the progress of his migration program. In the last ten years the land around Parrion had healed to the extent it was now ripe for settlement. The problem was, the old inhabitants didn’t want new settlers in their territory, especially Family ones.

But that wasn’t the real reason Jet had come to Parrion. Or not the only reason. As soon as he was able, he escaped his solicitous hosts and zipped away from the new New Parrion they were building above-ground. Jet had business in the below-ground Parrion. He sank down through layers of rock and earth, or more accurately, between them, until he reached the underground city of New Parrion. The former base of the Sons of Men was all but deserted now. Few even knew of its existence, and fewer still that the Sons of Men still inhabited its dusty corridors.

“Hello, Ben,” Jet said, taking material form inside the old municipal building where once he had been held captive.

Ben looked up from a pile of papers he was reviewing. “I was wondering when you’d get here,” he said, standing so he could reach across his desk to clasp Jet’s hand. “How’s the family?”

“Good, good.” Jet smiled. “Attan’s getting big. You’d hardly recognize him.”

“So when are you and Doll going to have another one?”

Jet’s smile faded. They’d tried. Maybe Attan had been a miracle. Maybe they were too changed now, as Elementals, to have other physical children. Jet hadn’t seemed to have gotten any older since Attan was born, either. Doll had—she was always more human than Jet anyway—but not by much. It was as if they had just—stopped—once they embraced their Elemental natures. Would the same thing happen to other Family who became Elementals? It was something Jet had never considered, although he realized now it could have a potentially devastating effect on the future of Family in Attania.

But that wasn’t why Jet was here, either. “Not yet,” he replied lightly to Ben’s query. “Have you found anything out about the caves?”

“Daniel just returned from mapping them yesterday,” Ben said. He held out the papers he’d been looking at. “They’re much more extensive than we first thought.”

Jet took the papers from Ben. Someone, Daniel maybe, had color-coded them. The colors matched the striations found on the innermost cavern walls, although no one who was unable to release physical form would have been able to get in that deep to see them. “Did you break open some of the walls?”

Ben looked up in surprise. “Did you want us to? Daniel said—“

“No, I don’t want any of it destroyed,” Jet said, bending to study the maps again. They did extend much farther than he had thought. “They go almost to the Eastern Sea,” he said, tracing one brightly colored path with his finger. Jet would have dearly loved to explore the caves himself, but as King he had other duties which had to take precedence. “Where’s Daniel now?”

“Right here, brother.” Daniel appeared out of nowhere and threw an arm around Jet’s neck. He wore the same coveralls as all the Sons of Men wore down here. He saluted Ben. “Chief.”

Ben inclined his head. “Daniel. I was just telling Jet here about your discoveries, but maybe you can fill him in on the details.”

Daniel grinned. “You mean—Elemental to Elemental?”

Ben smiled briefly. “Don’t mind me.”

As if that would have given either Jet or Daniel a moment’s hesitation. They were what they were. Both Elementals seemingly disappeared from view. Ben went back to sorting through the papers Jet had dropped back onto his desk, unconsciously tracing the lines of color Jet had focused on. He wondered what they meant.

In seconds, Jet knew what Daniel knew about the caves, although it wasn’t much. Daniel reveled in the merge. He had been spending much of his time with Ben in the headquarters below the new city being built on the surface. The Sons of Men were used to him and his insatiable curiosity about their many inventions. Daniel had formed a strong connection with the Sons of Men because of his fascination with all things technical. He loved the new technologies, like the communicators which allowed people to talk over long distances, and the one-rail, which was faster and more efficient than the existing train system, and especially the flitters which allowed ordinary people to fly. Of course, all these inventions mimicked what Family, particularly royals with their multiple elemental abilities, could already do naturally.

Jet wondered if that fascination with human innovation was what kept Daniel anchored to the physical world. Of all the Family besides Jet himself, and Attan, who was different yet again, Daniel was the closest to a true Elemental, which meant he was in constant danger of being overwhelmed by his elemental side. Jet was also tied to the physical, through Doll, through his commitment to bringing Attania back to its full potential, and through the things he loved about being physical—food—and sex. It must have been much the same for those original Elementals who loved the physical so much that eventually they became physical beings themselves. The pendulum was slowly swinging the other way now.

Being among non-family for so long gave Daniel little chance to engage his elemental nature. He had jumped at the chance of exploring the caves for Jet, but even so, he missed the merging that only Elemental Family could do. Funny, how something that was basically non-existent ten years ago was now so much a part of their lives.

Coming out of the merge, Jet asked, “So you found no trace of other elementals in the caves?” It was a calculated risk. Jet trusted Ben, despite their past history, or possibly because of it. Ben had practically raised him, even though it was in order to keep an eye on him for the Sons of Men. Ben had ultimately betrayed the Sons of Men for Jet’s sake.

“Oh, you know, just the usual,” Daniel said, passing off the presence of free elementals as of no real account. They were everywhere.

Jet knew better. So far, only he and Attan were able to actually communicate with free elementals, if you could call their interactions a form of communications. The free elementals listened to Jet, they did things for him. Attan had grown up with free elementals as his earliest friends. Not even Aylard, the last of the original Elementals, had been able to communicate with the free elementals from which he had been formed. It had held him to his Elemental state for a very long time. But free elementals are what all Family should be, had been once. In some deep part of themselves, it was what they all still longed to be.

“See if you can follow them next time,” Jet advised. He’d do it himself if he had the time. But the officials in New Parrion above awaited him. Ben gave him a curious look, but Jet didn’t elaborate. Daniel shrugged, and nodded.

“What do you think it means?” Ben asked, after Daniel had gone off to meet with some of the other Sons of Men who were building prototypes of the one-rail to be used in the city of New Parrion above. The new city was to be a model for what Attania could become when Family and non-family worked together. If only they would work together. Ben’s Sons of Men were not the problem; it was the other non-family who had migrated to the new New Parrion in hopes of a new start. They were the ones who were resistant to Family help, which is why Jet had come himself to see how things were faring. That, and to check on the caves.

“Maybe nothing,” Jet replied. “But this is where Aylard came from. Long before he built the underground Parrion, he roamed these caves. He told me, before he—disappeared—that he was the last of our kind. That means at one time there were more of them—Elementals like me who could take human form or shed it for their elemental form at will. Aylard said the others lost their ability to become Elementals and eventually became purely physical creatures, just like the rest of the Family until recently. But what if some of the original Elementals did not change, or what if they went back to what they originally were—pure elementals?”

“You mean like Aylard did? And the King?”

And countless other Family who, once given the choice to become physical as well as elemental, chose to abandon the physical altogether and become reabsorbed into Attania as free elementals. Jet nodded. Aylard had feared that final step, thinking himself the last of his kind until he met Jet. As more and more Family made the choice to embrace their Elemental natures, Aylard had finally found the courage to let go of his own physical form for good. Jet didn’t understand it. Why would anyone not want to have both? But apparently a lot of Family felt as Aylard did. The lure of just being, once discovered, was a powerful one. Jet didn’t know which way was right, or if there even was a right or a wrong to it. “But it’s the only connection we have to our past.”

Ben couldn’t realize the importance of this search for Jet. Family was evolving, maybe too rapidly. Jet worried for his son, who already was barely of this world. “I’d better go back up.” Jet raised his eyes towards the wood ceiling that hid the rock walls above it.

New Parrion gleamed among gently rolling grassy hills. For the past ten years, ever since Jet had begun reawakening the land, settlers had poured in from the depressed cities to the west of the formerly blasted area. It wasn’t coincidence that most of them were non-family. Only the poorest of the poor were willing to take a chance on a new beginning. Lately some Family had begun migrating to the area also, thanks to Thomas Merrell, who stubbornly clung to the old ways. He was Attania’s Enforcer, since Jet had not seen a need to replace him when he became King. Now that Merrell had embraced his Elemental nature, he had mellowed somewhat, but he still firmly believed Family needed to oversee Attania, at least until another system could be put into place. Jet hadn’t fought him on this, letting Merrell set up a Family seat of government in the Eastern region. Someone had to do it, and except for Family—and the semi-organized Sons of Men—nobody else had any experience.

Merrell’s choice for governor was another brother of Jet’s, since Daniel was not at all suited to administrative pursuits. Jet’s siblings were powerful in the elements, how could they not be—they were bred for it. This one was also practical, which was necessary for a newly developing territory. He’d made his residence on the outskirts of the new city so he could govern not only the newly emerging Parrion but also the farming communities that had sprung up all around. He had brought Family settlers along with him, which had not been well accepted by the already established settlers.

“King Roderick!” Jet had barely materialized when he was hailed. He turned and frowned at the hailer. “King Jet,” the man amended, hurrying over. “We have been looking for you. The governor is waiting. The press—“ The man stopped talking as Jet’s expression darkened. Who had called the press?

Governor Talli looked like every other Family man—tall, slender, unusually pale, with midnight hair. He stood at a podium facing not only a bevy of reporters and cameras, but also a crowd of farmers and construction workers who had all come to hear what the King had to say about their situation. Jet noticed a sprinkling of coverall-clad workers—Ben’s men—among the crowd. Governor Talli stared calmly out at the sea of people as Jet made his way to the podium.

Some time over the past ten years, non-family had lost their healthy fear of Family. Most of that was due to Jet.He had worked hard to make Family abilities commonplace, and to assure non-family that those abilities would only ever be used to help people, not to hurt them. So it was no wonder that the non-family farmers pushed forward, yelling that Parrion belonged to them and why should any of these newcomers get in on it now that all the hard work was practically done. Governor Talli’s quiet proclamation that they would open up a school for Family and non-family children to learn together just seemed to incense them further.

Jet’s brows drew together. “My son goes to a school for Family and non-family in Low City,” he said, letting the wind carry his voice to the back of the crowd without need for further amplification.

“That’s Low City.” One of the reporters held up a microphone to a farmer. “We grow our own food here. We don’t need Family to help us.”

Jet wasn’t charismatic like Aylard First used to be. He didn’t have the talent for speaking words that grabbed the very hearts of people. But he was King. “Is that so?” he asked slowly. The sky above New Parrion darkened ominously, reflected off its glass surfaces. Rain began to pelt down, hard droplets that stung when they hit.

“Jet,” Governor Talli spoke in an undertone. He was one of the Family who hadn’t become an Elemental, either by choice or because it was too difficult. But he was still Family, with power over the elements that few could match. “This isn’t helping.”

“No, I suppose it isn’t.” Suddenly the rain ceased. Jet raised his voice again. “Your fields are fertile now where before they were barren. That’s thanks in part to your hard work, and thanks in part to people like me, who bring in the rains when they’re needed.” He raised his eyebrows. “You need Family for that. Not only for your farms, but for the new city you are building right here. Your children will attend the Governor’s school together with Family children so you can learn from each other and help each other. The alternative is unthinkable.”

To illustrate his point, Jet pointed to the sky and called a windstorm to him, careful to keep it high above the city where it could do no damage. He wasn’t trying to threaten his subjects, just the opposite. “This is what Parrion looked like ten years ago,” he said. “This is what we never want to have happen here again.”

It wasn’t the whole truth; Aylard had had a lot to do with keeping the blasted lands uninhabitable, but the point was still the same: Family and non-family needed each other. The news crews caught it all on camera and broadcast it across Attania, the rain, the windstorm, and the subdued faces of the crowd outside of New Parrion.