Yaliana

Chapter 1-3

Yaliana heard the news in the cantina the next day—Ulissa was missing.

At first, Yaliana was certain Ulissa must be hiding on the compound, because someone resourceful enough could, indeed, find a nice hiding nook somewhere. It allowed Yaliana to believe, for a little while, that there was nothing to worry about. In fact, in her mind, there could be nothing to worry about, because it was inconceivable that Ulissa could be anywhere but in a safe place.

“There’s no way she could have left,” Gevery said. “All of the ships are present and accounted for, all the ground vehicles are in their bays. She’s hiding somewhere on the base, you mark my words.”

Yaliana didn’t even consider that she could be anywhere outside. The numerous perils, the large, dangerous wild animals, made it far too dangerous for anyone except a knight to venture out. The pteros were the main worry, of course, because they could fly, but other creatures out there—carnivores and herbivores alike—hated the sight of humans, wanting to kill them for the invaders they were. Even knights didn’t go far, and only to find more drilling sites for minerals, keeping the scientists protected.

The dangers even included the plant life. There had been reports of carnivorous plants eating creatures as large as a rhinoceros, so they’d be able to devour humans in a snap.

Yaliana felt a stir of concern. She knew she shouldn’t be harbouring feelings for the boss’ daughter, but she had for a long time. She still remembered when it had first happened. She had been sixteen, hard in training to be a knight. She and Gevery had been practicing hand-to-hand combat in the gym. Her glance had happened to fall on a girl sitting on the side, watching them practice. Their eyes had met, and it had been so distracting, that Gevery had managed to easily throw her down to the mat.

Ever since then, she’d been on the lookout for Ulissa. Yaliana had tried so hard to learn tidbits of information about her, and it had been difficult, because Ulissa was so secretive. Yaliana had asked people about her and had even taken to following her around without her noticing. Ulissa probably had noticed, though, and eventually Yaliana had stopped, because she didn’t want to scare the woman. She still saw Ulissa around the compound sometimes, but always kept her distance.

It couldn’t be possible Ulissa was on the outside, but days went by without any sighting of her. Yaliana went from being completely sure that Ulissa was okay, to certain she was in grave peril. It was possible to disappear in the compound, but not for days on end. Yaliana didn’t know what to do, and it was driving her crazy. She often paced and couldn’t keep still, and her jittery nerves had started to affect the other knights as well. Yaliana prayed to some deity out there that Ulissa was safe, wherever she was.

All the while she was praying and hoping, the search continued. The base was turned on end looking for her, the storehouses searched, the vehicles counted and recounted, and people questioned. Yaliana wasn’t part of the search crew, but she wished she was, just so she would know what was going on. This void of information wasn’t helping with her mental state.

By the end of day three, Yaliana was ready to panic.