pdf file - Notes from An Alien

happen when the majority of people truly believe in the principle of the Oneness of all Angians. There are still
many pockets of political and general dissent. There is still much prejudice and prejudice is the mother of hate.
The hate will continue until its stream of blood becomes a witness to the necessity for justice in our everyday
dealings with each other. The death of a martyr is a powerful spiritual statement. Killing someone for the
promptings of their conscience is a potent means of furthering the very activity for which they were killed.
Mura made a declaration on her fifteenth birthday. Delva and Verluin knew it would come some day.
Verluin met it with an internal prayer. Delva greeted it with joyous laughter. Mura had said:
"I know you both want the best for me and I just don't feel like it's here, in this house, with two people
who may love me but don't understand me at all. I want my own life and, if you don't voluntarily accept my
decision to move out, I'll still do it. I don't want to hurt your feelings but I can't take it anymore. You're famous.
You're respected by everyone. You talk to that life-form. You try to relate to me but all it feels like is you're being
condescending. You always talk about how the truth and justice are so necessary. Well, I'm telling you my truth."
Verluin had had his eyes closed through the whole speech. Delva had been looking straight into Mura's
eyes. Delva laughed like she did when someone finally understood what she was saying, like she laughed when
Angi broke above the horizon in the morning, like she did when Anglana sang in her mind and heart. She wasn't
happy about what Mura had just said but she was overjoyed that this was happening when she was fifteen and
not in her twenties or thirties. She said:
"Mura, you do whatever you want. Your father and I will be here to pick up the pieces."
Mura stared at her mother with thinly-veiled respect. She covered that with her final words before she
picked up her traveling bag and left.
"I knew you wouldn't understand."
Months passed and Mura didn't return home or communicate with her parents. Haalii had been keeping
tabs on Mura. Haalii was known in many circles and had many informants. They didn't know they were
informants. They thought they were just the lucky people who got to meet Haalii and talk to her at one social
event or another.
Haalii was very patient. She had cultivated relationships with sixty-four people who considered her their
best friend. She considered them to be her tools. Every undertaking needed the right tools and Haalii's next-tofinal
task, before she finally communicated with Chirzt and Laiy and the others of the movement, was to befriend
Mura. After crafting Mura into her perfect tool, Haalii's final task was to re-establish ties with Verluin and Delva.
Mura and Haalii finally met at a regular gathering that had attained a reputation as the place to meet
people who could be valuable when one needed particular forms of influence in trade matters. This notoriety
wasn't what the event was known for by the general populace. When it was noticed at all, the monthly gathering
of the Artists and Artisans Co-operative was known as a somewhat rowdy gathering of artists and artisans.
A man named Terlon guided Mura to where Haalii was sitting. He hugged Mura tightly as he said:
"Haalii, I want you to meet my new friend, Mura. She seems to have rare talent as a dancer."
"Does she dance for you?"
Mura blushed and Terlon said:
"Only when were alone. I'm trying to get her an audition."
"Well, as long as it's an audition for public dancing, the kind that respectable people watch, I can help
you."
They shared a laugh as Terlon guided Mura to sit next to Haalii. He claimed some important chat with
some important person as his excuse to leave them alone.
After he'd left and Haalii's hand signal had secured fresh drinks for them, Haalii said:
"A dancer, eh?"
"Yes, I started when I was quite young, two or three. My mother and father did a lot of dancing and I just
sort of fell into it. When I was nine, my mother engaged an instructor for me. I'm sixteen."
"If you found yourself becoming in demand for your dancing, what name would you use?"
"That's interesting 'cause I actually wouldn't want to use my real name. My parents are famous and I