LIT 23. Under the Fruit Tree

Lost in Translation Chapter 23

Previously: Marie and Bahr were briefly separated from Valentina during their journey through the forest. During this time they were able to talk about their accidental marriage, and how they’d go about fixing the result of their miscommunication.

The next morning the sunrise woke me up, arriving far too early in my opinion. Judging by the expressions on my companion's faces they felt the same. No one mentioned it. We got up, packed our things, ate a bit of breakfast, and continued. If Valentina had any uncertainty about where we were going she didn't show it.

About an hour into our walk Bahr started shaking his head as if there were insects flying around him. I saw none. "What's wrong?"

"Can't you hear that?"

"I just hear the bugs, and maybe a couple of birds."

"No it’s like..." He couldn't come up with a word we'd both know. He settled for miming it instead, chomping his teeth together.

"Chewing? You hear chewing?" He gave me a blank look. "Is there an animal?"

"There's a lot of something."

"We must be getting close. Which direction is it coming from?" asked Valentina. I stared at her.

"I thought we were going to see a person. One being. Valentina, where are we going?"

"There's not much detail..." she mumbled. "Bahr, where is it?" He pointed forward and slightly to the left, then glanced back at me.

"Valentina, what are we heading towards?" I asked again.

"Do you want answers or not?"

"I want you to answer me now."

"I don't know. I have my father's notes on what he thought the natives were trying to tell him. I don't know what we're looking for." Her voice got louder. "You don't have to come with me."

"I'm coming," I replied. Bahr nodded. We walked on in silence save for Bahr's occasional directions.

It took maybe another hour before I could hear what Bahr could hear, a sort of chattering, like teeth in a children's cartoon. Valentina made no comment on the noise, and neither did I. Bahr stopped giving directions, realizing he no longer needed to.

We stopped in a clearing with one huge tree in the center. Red fruit, like apples but the size of a man's head, hung from the branches. I had to squint to see it's top, staring up into the sunny sky. "It that where the noise is coming from?" asked Valentina, under her breath. Bahr nodded. The apples swayed in the breeze despite their size.

Bahr covered his ears and dropped to his knees a half second before I heard it — a voice that seemed to be coming from inside my own skull. "I haven't heard that language in a while." I covered my own ears, accomplishing nothing. Valentina flinched and it was the only indication that it was too loud for her as well.

"Who said that?" she asked.

"Don't you know? You came to see me. Your voice resembles his. I never forget a voice."

The tree bent down towards us and I could now see, as the branches shifted, that there were four trunks instead of one. They joined together far above our heads. The leafy bulb of the tree's top descended and tilted, like the head of a dog, leaves falling down like spit from jaws. The trunks shifted so that two were straight and in front and two were curved around the sides, like the legs of a sitting canine.

The fruit twisted around towards us, dozens of red bulbs. On each was a slit and in each of these were two rows of white. I told myself they were seeds. They looked like human teeth. The slits moved out of sync with the voice and out of sync with each other. They were the source of the chattering. The thing had no eyes as far as I could see but the fruit swiveled to point at Valentina. An audience of dozens of mouths.

"You knew Henrique de Matos?"

"Yes. He came to ask me questions."

"Did you answer them?"

"I told him what he needed to know."

"Which was?"

"The name of the planet." The thing paused. "Didn’t he tell you this?"

"He left after speaking to you. I never saw him again."

"Pity. I do remember that now — he was so anxious about his family, to keep them from danger. I don’t know why he thought information would be dangerous. I certainly didn't tell him that. I'll tell you what I told him. I hope you'll be more prudent with it. I hate to repeat myself. I told him the name of this planet - it's called Win."

Valentina waited for more and the thing didn't offer it. "And?"

"If you have another question, ask. I promise no answers, but I never lie.” The thing bent closer. One of the apples was inches from Valentina's face now. There was something moving behind the teeth — a tongue, if I had to guess.

"If the planet is called Win, what does Os mean?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly. The thing tilted again. Three of the apples were pointed at me now.

"She sounds like Henrique — you speak like him." One of the fruits was so close to my face I could smell it's breath, like apple slices left out too long. "Os means prisoner."

Valentina shot me a quick look but didn't ask me to clarify. "Oswin... is a prisoner?"

"Is that a question? It's not one I can answer, but you should be able to connect the dots."

One the trunks lifted slightly. The roots displaced dirt and grass, stretching against the earth from below. The top of the tree shook, then moved upwards. "You, on the other hand. I've met people like you — they never like me much." The apples swiveled to point at Bahr. He'd stepped back out of the clearing, hands on his ears. I waved at him to continue backing up — he obliged me only a few steps.

"Do you know of a way we can leave this planet?" I asked the tree. It was over me again. Leaves rained down on top of my head.

"I knew one of you would ask. I'll tell you this — there’s a key detail you’ve missed. Don’t feel too bad. Henrique missed it too."

"That doesn't really answer the question," said Valentina.

"Ah, but you don't mind that, do you?" One of the apples got so close to Valentina, it could have nipped at her nose. "You don't even want to leave."

"Why should I?"

"I like you, Valentina." The thing sat back up. "Any more questions?"

"What are you?" asked Valentina. "How do you know how to speak Portuguese?" I glanced at her. Hadn't the whole conversation been in English? The mouths on the apples grinned, one at a time.

"I can communicate with all, just like Oswin. I must be able to, to fulfill my role.”

Valentina looked confused, so I asked, "Are you guarding the prison?"

The grins got wider. "Ah, you catch on quickly, Marie." I'd never told the thing my name. "I think a mistake was made, bringing you here. Of course, there's quite a bit of strife back home because of it, isn't there? Oswin’s been gorging herself on it as of late. She thinks I haven't noticed her growing stronger, but I have."

"Gorging herself? What does she feed on?"

"Didn't I answer that already? I'm afraid I can't be much clearer on that topic." I ran through it's last response. He'd said Oswin had been gorging herself on strife. The response made no sense, but neither did the respondent.

"You said I was brought here. Did you bring me?"

"Me? Oh, no. That's a bit outside my abilities."

"If you can't send me back home, can you send a message there?" The chattering stopped for a moment.

"Yes." The tone of voice had become more blank, more serious. "Yes, this may be a good idea."

One of the trunks fell deeper into the earth. A moment later the ground beneath my feet began to break apart. I took a step back. Out of the earth came a mass of roots, the end of one of the tree trunks. The beast's paw. In the center was a small pool of water. It was dark, neither reflecting the sky above nor showing the roots below. The water shook and an image began to form. An image of a human.

"Marie!"

I recognized the voice before I recognized the face — a shrill, grating thing that I'd found myself missing. "Edmund?"

"Marie, how are you here? How are you alive? Where are you? When your parents..." my betrothed spluttered out the questions like he couldn't decide which to ask first.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Tell everyone I'm fine!" I kept talking to avoid laughing or crying. "I don't know how this is possible, the distance must be... Well, I have no idea." I took a deep breath. "Tell me about home, please."

"It's not great, Marie, I'm sorry to say. You disappeared right after it was decided you'd be queen, and well, obviously you can't be from where ever you are, and there was no other heir. There's some that think I should take over, as your betrothed, but of course that's no true claim and..."

"You'd do better in politics than I could." I meant it. For once, I meant it as a compliment.

"That's kind of you, but truly it would make no sense at this point, I mean I'm not even from the Southern Colonies..." He sighed. "Really, I don't want it, when it comes down to it. There would be so much controversy."

“You only have a claim as my betrothed, right?"

"That's correct."

"Well, I'm married to someone else. Does that help you?"

"I..." A smile crept over his face. "Yes, that would help tremendously, actually. A secret marriage! I wouldn't have expected it from you, really. Who's the lucky man?"

"Bahr! Can you come here for a second?" The smile fell from Edmund's face much faster than it'd arrived. Bahr glanced up the tree, but the chattering and speech had stopped for the time being. He stood beside me by the pool. "Edmund, Bahr. Bahr, Edmund."

"Marie, you married an alien?"

"It's a very long story." I said, fully aware that Valentina was listening. "But yes, I am legally married to someone who isn't you. Helpful?"

"Yes, very... I already started recording this conversation on video, I hope you don't mind... Maybe we can figure out..." The pool began to ripple again.

"Edmund? Edmund!"

The tree made a loud noise. Bahr covered his head again and I couldn't help but do the same. The mass of roots plunged back into the earth, taking Edmund's image with it. The mouth's regained their grins. "Ah, that was too much help I think. I was hoping Oswin wouldn't notice, but clearly she did. She's really gotten so much stronger lately. You should leave now. Remember, Marie, you've missed something important. The answer is there, but you aren't the one to find it. You are not the smartest one here.”

I had no answer and no time to think of one. The tree drew itself up to full height again and the ground shook. Whether it was from the tree's movement or something else, I couldn't be certain. Valentina and Bahr started running back towards the forest and I followed them. As I turned I was hit with a flash of white light that took away my vision for multiple seconds.

"Ma... Marie?" It wasn't Bahr's voice. It wasn't Valentina's. I blinked away the spots in my vision.

Edmund was standing before me, not in a pool of water but in the flesh. He leaned against a tree, with one hand braced against it like he was about to be sick. "Edmund, how on earth..."

He shook his head, unable to answer. I waited there, with Valentina and Bahr, as he took deep breaths and tried to collect himself. "I have no idea." He gasped out. "I have no idea."