Changes (G)

Originally posted 10/18/03

My muses wanted to see John arrive (with Aeryn) back on the Favored Planet for the first time -- through the eyes of an outsider. Atana graciously allowed me to use Rhonin Kyfen, a character she created for her Aeryn Years story. Aeryn's granddaughter Ennixx was "sweet" on him in Atana's story, and I decided to use him as Ennixx's boyfriend at this time, five years later....

Rating: G
Setting: Mid-Locket
Spoilers: Through The Locket
Disclaimer: Not mine, alas, not even Rhonin!

Changes

He'd told her not to go. He'd absolutely forbidden it. It was his right to look out for her, after all, they were practically engaged, no matter what his family thought about the match....

Someday, Rhonin Kyfen thought sourly, he was going to learn that forbidding Ennixx to do something only made it certain that she would do it. Especially if it concerned her beloved Nana.

He stopped pounding on the fence post long enough to wipe the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve and run his hand through tight brown curls. Women! He shook his head and went back to his work, trying not to think about his dark-haired beauty out there somewhere with that crazy grandmother of hers, in an ancient space ship he considered more likely to blow up than bring them back safely.

It was hard work: Two sections of fence needed replacing to keep the livestock contained on the ranch his family had owned for generations, and the young man had been working since breakfast, having taken only a short break for a mid-day meal. All things considered, he was glad of the chore to keep him busy. Ennixx and her grandmother, Aeryn Sun, had been gone for more than a solar day, and he was more worried than he would have admitted to anyone, including himself. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it except wait for them to return from the old woman's annual pilgrimage.

So he concentrated all his energy on wrestling with the weighty posts, removing those whose bases had rotted after the previous wet winter, and hammering the replacements with every bit of strength he had. Bam! Bam! The sound of his heavy mallet hitting the wood echoed off the trees on a nearby hill. Ba-bam! Ba-bam! Ba-bam!

Gradually he became aware of another sound filling the air: The low mechanical drone of Ennixx's grandmother's transport pod.

Relief flooded through him, and he stopped everything to search the skies for the pod. Once again he wiped sweat from his brow, and held his hand up to shade his eyes from the afternoon sun. Trying to home in on the noise, he gradually became aware that there were....echoes, or....beats....there was something different about the rumble of the engines.

When he finally zeroed in on the sound, he saw at once what it was. There were two ships in the air above the Favored Planet, one apparently following the other at a safe distance, not that he had any experience with flying vehicles except for watching old Aeryn Sun's ship fly once a year....

Rhonin couldn't decide whether he was excited or terrified. He hastily strung a pair of wires across the section of fence that he'd been working on, making a temporary closure to ensure the ploviks wouldn't simply wander out while he was gone, then took off at a run for the field behind Ennixx's grandmother's barn where he expected the old pod to land.

He got there just in time to see the first ship settle on the ground with a couple of bumps. He knew that wasn't right, because he'd waited with Ennixx several times in years past for her gran to return, but at least it didn't look damaged, and its engines shut down promptly. The second ship landed smoothly a short distance away.

Standing the length of a Jahi-nek field away from the two ships, Rhonin wondered which one of them held Ennixx and her grandmother. From that distance, they looked identical. As he trotted towards the ships, watching them with a hint of caution, he began to see that though the design was the same, the one that had landed second appeared shinier, newer somehow, in comparison to the one he'd watched leave from this spot the day before. The door to the older ship opened, and the stairs folded down. He was immensely pleased to see Ennixx emerge from the pod.

He strode to her side and then realized something -- someone -- was missing. "Where's your gran?" he asked Ennixx. "Is she all right?"

Ennixx's mouth was drawn tight with some emotion he couldn't quite identify, but it wasn't fear, that much, he could tell. "You're all going to be sorry you said she was crazy," she told him, and then nodded towards the other ship, behind his back. "She's over there."

He had no clue what she meant by that first remark, but he could certainly ask about the ship. "Where did that --" he began, starting to turn around, but broke off when he saw two figures making their careful way down the steps of the other pod. Aeryn Sun was holding the arm of a man he'd never seen before, a young man, perhaps ten cycles older than himself and Ennixx, dressed in dark form-fitting clothing completely unlike Rhonin's own baggy layers. The man was moving slowly, obviously solicitous of his elderly companion, and she was allowing it.

Rhonin stared. The old woman never allowed anyone to help her. "Is your gran all right?" he asked again, turning back to Ennixx.

Ennixx sighed. "Just tired, I think," she said, and took off for the other pod, heedless of whether he was following her. He caught up with her in three long strides and they walked together, eyes on the odd couple ahead of them.

At the bottom of the steps, the old woman let go of the stranger's arm and looked him in the eyes. She swept one arm out, gesturing at the world at large, and said to him, "You see?"

"I see, Aeryn," the stranger said, breaking off for a moment to actually glance briefly around him. "Yes, I see a place you could have lived for 165 cycles. I just don't believe it. We're not here. They're not here," he said, pointing to Rhonin and Ennixx. "This is some kinda mind frell."

The familiarity in his voice startled Rhonin, though apparently not Aeryn Sun. She huffed in completely comfortable disgust and started forward towards the two young people without bothering to answer him.

"Aeryn, wait," the stranger said, and reached out and grabbed her arm. The old woman stopped and swung around to face him, but he didn't let go of her, and she didn't pull away.

Rhonin heard Ennixx gasp, and, clearly intent on mayhem, she rushed across the last little distance to her grandmother and the stranger, Rhonin on her heels. But her grandmother stopped them both with a look. "Stay out of this, you two! I'm perfectly fine!"

They both stopped automatically. No one in the district crossed Aeryn Sun when she spoke in that tone. Rhonin put his arm on Ennixx's shoulder protectively and felt her seething.

The old woman turned her attention back to the stranger. "Are you going to keep an open mind, Crichton? Or are you going to continue acting like a drannit?"

Crichton? Why did that sound familiar? Rhonin looked at Ennixx, but she was watching her grandmother.

The stranger slid his fingers down the old woman's arm to take her hand gently. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said. "I promise, I'll make nice with the locals, they're your family." His face wrinkled as if that was something he couldn't quite understand. "I get it. It's just....hard to believe."

All the annoyance went out of her expression, and she said simply, "I know."

"Nana, come back to the house now. You should rest," Ennixx said, all too obviously trying to gain control of the situation, though Rhonin could have told her that was futile, and Aeryn Sun wasn't even his grandmother.

The old woman fixed Ennixx with the glare again, and said, "You go up to the house and start some tea, girl. Crichton and I will be along soon. We need to lock down the transport pods."

Ennixx looked back and forth between her grandmother and the newcomer as if she wasn't entirely sure about the strange words coming from Nana's mouth, and then shook her head. "I'll fix some supper. You haven't had a proper meal in more than a solar day."

"All right," the old woman agreed with a curt nod. "Go on then. And take young Master Kyfen with you!"

Rhonin hesitated, and the stranger spoke up. "Hey, man, we'll just be a few minutes. I'll get her up to the house, no problem."

"As soon as I show him where it is," the old woman sniffed, and turned and headed back toward the older of the two ships sitting near her barn without another glance at any of the younger people, including the stranger.

The interloper smiled in a way women probably found charming, and turned to follow her.

Ennixx stared after the pair of them for a moment, and then turned and set off for the house. "Come on, Rho," she said in a tone only a little milder than her grandmother habitually used.

Used to her sudden starts, Rhonin caught up with her quickly. "Een, who is he then?" he asked as they walked.

"He's John Crichton," she said, as if that explained everything. When he looked at her, uncomprehending, she snapped, "Crichton! From Moya."

"Moya?" Moya? He stopped himself from adding, The imaginary living ship she talks about? Instead he asked, "You were there?"

"No," she said, in a tone that implied he was unbearably stupid, "You know she would only agree to let me come along if I waited for her on the Barren Planet."

"So you weren't actually there?"

"Well, no," she admitted, and then continued in a rush, "but Nana was, and this Crichton, he came after her, and she tried to make him go back, but the mist closed, and he got stuck, just like she did all those cycles ago." She paused for a moment, apparently remembering, and then added, "She was furious."

He glanced behind them, but neither Aeryn Sun nor this John Crichton person was visible. They must have been inside one of the ships by now. "Should we have left them alone then?" he asked with a little concern. "If your Nan's angry at him?"

"Honestly, Rho!" Ennixx shook her head. "She's furious because he's trapped, not because he's here."

He let that rattle around in his head a bit, and tried to remember some of the old woman's stories. Since he'd been courting Ennixx, he'd heard quite a few of them, but he generally paid them no mind. What had she said about this Crichton fellow? Well, the stranger certainly acted as if he knew her. Her temper seemed to bother him not one whit, even when it was directed at him.

"He seems a bit slow, doesn't he?" he ventured.

She looked as if she'd like to agree with him, but in the end, she sighed. "He's just confused. He's been stuck in the mist as long as Nana's been on this planet. A hundred sixty-five cycles. But for him, it's been just a day. He saw her yesterday, and she was as young as I am...."

Now, that was a strange thought. As with his own grands, he'd never thought of Ennixx's grandmother as being anything but ancient. But his own relatives said Ennixx took after the old woman, which meant Aeryn Sun must have been beautiful, way back then. "Was he sweet on her?" he asked curiously. It would explain a lot.

"What difference does it make if he was? Things have changed. She's old. He's young."

He assumed that meant Crichton had cared for her, and found himself imagining what it would be like if Een somehow turned old overnight. "It must be quite a shock for him, seeing her like this, then," he said sympathetically as they reached the back door to the house.

"That's right, take his side," she snapped, stomping up the stairs and into the kitchen.

Rhonin stared after her. He'd had no idea there was a side to take.... There wasn't much point in arguing with Ennixx when she was in this mood, so he thought the best thing would be to keep his mouth shut and help her with supper, and let her settle down. Maybe he could figure out what was bothering her during the meal, if this Crichton was going to be there....

* * * * * * * *

When John Crichton opened the door and ushered Aeryn Sun into her home, Rhonin thought that things were a little strained between them. Ennixx's gran busied herself with putting away her shawl and washing her hands and laying out the table, while Crichton stood and looked around the kitchen quietly, once he'd said hello.

Rhonin wondered if the newcomer had found himself on the receiving end of Aeryn Sun's sharp tongue while he and Ennixx had been putting supper together.

But when the old woman took her place at the table, she gestured to Crichton to sit next to her, and smiled when he did so naturally, as if he'd been intending to sit there all along. Ennixx's expression was somewhere between a smile and a frown.

The four of them occupied themselves for a while with serving the plovik stew Ennixx had reheated, and passing around bread and some juke apple spread to go on it.

"This is good," Crichton said to Ennixx, after trying a mouthful of the stew.

"Een's a great cook," Rhonin said proudly.

"No thanks to me," her gran added, shooting a grin at Crichton. "Her mother taught her, fortunately for all of us."

Ennixx beamed at the praise, but didn't reply. Instead, she turned her attention towards the newcomer. "So, what do you think of our Favored Planet now that you've seen a little of it?" she asked him.

Crichton shrugged. "It looks a lot like Earth, where I come from, somewhere way out in the country. If I don't look too close at the plants or those farm critters I saw on the way over here, anyway...." He trailed off and exchanged a meaningful look with Ennixx's gran. Unfortunately, Rhonin couldn't figure out just what that look meant, except the man looked a little sad.

Crichton finally cleared his throat and said, as if afraid he'd been impolite, "D'Argo and Zhaan would appreciate it more than I do, though. I'm a big city kinda guy."

The old woman smiled at the mention of the two strange names. "Yes, they would have, wouldn't they?" she said to Crichton, and then turned to Ennixx and Rhonin and explained, "Zhaan was a Delvian, her species is vegetable-based, and she collected herbs for medical use. And D'Argo, you'd never believe it, but this Luxan warrior who was bigger than both your brothers put together, Rhonin, always wanted to be a farmer."

"Present tense, Aeryn," Crichton said. "Present tense. Zhaan collects herbs, D'Argo wants to be a farmer."

Ennixx looked back and forth between her grandmother and the newcomer. "You're going to shake things up around here, Crichton," she said with satisfaction.

The old woman smiled and turned to her...shipmate, was that the word? "Mmm, she's right, Crichton," she said. "You're the biggest thing to happen in this district since that pompous Meelosh Karvon's prize stud bull broke out and --"

Crichton snickered, and then cut her off, gently but firmly. "Well, I'm glad to bring a little excitement to your lives, but I don't plan on being here very long. I'm going back to Moya." After a moment he added, looking directly at Ennixx's gran, "And you're coming with me."

Rhonin expected the old woman to take Crichton's head off for his presumption, but she merely tightened her mouth and looked away. After a short time she looked back at Crichton and said softly, "You can't, not for fifty-five cycles John. I've told you that. And even if you could, I couldn't go with you."

Crichton's expression said he wasn't the kind of man who let things get in his way.

Rhonin thought he might come to like this man. And then he looked at Ennixx, and saw that she was looking at both Crichton and her grandmother with annoyance.

He tried to figure out why, and finally realized that her grandmother had completely missed Ennixx's point about Crichton's presence. People were going to have to admit that crazy old Aeryn Sun wasn't crazy after all. John Crichton, whatever Ennixx might or might not think of him personally, was living proof that her grandmother had been telling the truth all along.

And that changed everything.

No more pitying looks from the neighbors that wounded Ennixx, even though the old woman couldn't have cared less what anyone thought of her.

Even better, Rhonin's parents were going to have to give up the one last objection they'd been clinging to for the past several cycles -- "Insanity" in Een's family -- and he should be able to officially ask for her hand once things calmed down a little.

He would have the one thing he wanted more than life itself: the remarkable Ennixx as his wife. He gave her a broad smile to show he understood, and she grinned back just as broadly.

He looked across the table then at the man who'd fallen from the sky and was about to change his life. The new member of their community was looking at Aeryn Sun with such longing, Rhonin was absolutely certain he'd loved her, when she was young and beautiful like Ennixx.

He wouldn't have wanted to be Crichton, trying to cope with the changes that had just been inflicted on his life.