【☆】 S A: T H E . N O E L L E . A N D. L A Z A R U S . S T O R Y【☆】

She remembered how the light looked.

No matter where you were, if you tilted your head back, toward the surface, you would see the shimmery golden light through the floating green. It rippled and wiggled with the water, but the pockets of that pure, golden light did reach their way to the rocky terrain underfoot. The light wrapped around her outstretched wrist as she tried to grasp it in her small, slender hand. The shiny ribbons danced to the rhythm of the currents, to the waves. That gentle to and fro was not only the way of the light but also their own way of life, her mother had told her. She told her many things about the tide, the moons, the stories of the dancing greens, the secrets of the peekaboo swimmers. She had listened to those stories dutifully and enjoyed them just fine but even though she was a fingerling, the stories rang false to her. She knew the tall greens swayed with the waves, pulled by the current, not dancing to please the Blue Moon. And the peekaboos hid away from bigger swimmers, not to hide from the Crimson Moon. But the ribbons of light… they were from the star. Their star. And they twinkled in through the water, making her skin glow with soft, lavender hues.

But now.

Noelle’s skin was dull and dry. Itchy, even, in the foreign air. She was uncomfortably aware of the piece of fabric her mother threw over her head. She called it a ‘dress’, before slipping into one of her own. Noelle had decided she hated the wretched thing. First, the fabric caught on her scales, which was only an annoyance, but still emphasized the strangeness of the disruption of her life. And it was grey, a color that would NEVER be found back home. They lived in soft, pleasant colors- pinks, greens, even purples. But never grey. Or silver, like the smelly, loud ship they had rushed to. Before that, Noelle’s child mind only processed the jumble of noise and light that bombarded her planet suddenly. Once on the ship, her mother had refused answers, not even the made-up ones about the Moons or the swimmers. She just said that home would no longer be home. Her planet, Akuali, was no longer home.


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They had traveled for quite a long time- long enough that Noelle had fallen asleep 3 separate times. And yet, her mother stayed wide-eyed at the pilots seat, her teeth in her lip. She handled the yoke and controls with ease, which confused Noelle once again. Ships were usually reserved for diplomats or merchants, not a caretaker like her mother. And, as far as Noelle was aware, her mother had never left home until today. And yet, her skill was noteworthy. Instead of dwelling, she just turned over in the bunk and clutched her head to keep it from hurting. She worried that they would never leave the horrible, stinky vessel and just float in space. It was a pale imitation of floating in the current back home.

But, they did land. And Noelle could hardly believe her eyes when they did. From the window, she saw ridges far beneath her, what she might believed was coral or rock, carved in intricate patterns. As they got closer, she saw that, no, it was something else. Rows and rows and rows and rows of wooden shelves that shadowed it’s contents quite effectively. Once in a while, she saw a flash of brilliant color, color that she had not seen since days before back on her planet. Bright colors, ones that tugged at her eyes as they sparked in her mind. They sailed over the shelves, and into a courtyard, which had room to spare once they landed.

And now? Noelle sat, her dull purple legs wrapped around one another, her wide, dark eyes watching the adults. One was her mother. Tall and willowy, her skin was the softest shade of teal, and her lovely tint had not lost it’s luminosity out of water yet. Her dress was also grey and fell to her calves loosely, just before her leg fins (which matched the ones on her forearms and ears). Dark green hair  was piled haphazardly on the top of her head, fly aways bouncing in her face as she spoke in hushed tones. Her pretty face was drawn with worry, the language that spilled from her mouth some combination of their mother tongue and some language she did not understand. It was rougher on the ears, not the lilted bubbling she was accustomed to.

But the man didn’t seem to be bothered, didn’t seem to have trouble understanding. He was smaller than her mother, looked older too, but the aura around him was intense. Noelle found herself staring at the glow that he gave, the icy blue color that matched his eyes. And his markings. Noelle could feel the power radiating from him- it reminded her of the Elders back home, but much more….potent.

He also wore clothes, but they were much more complicated than what they wore, with rich colors that rivaled the bright foliage at home. Next was the hair, which was bright white, and stayed aloft as if he was floating in water. She found herself staring at the man until his electric blue eyes shifted to her. Noelle felt like a peekaboo swimmer caught under a hunters spear. His whole aura, literally and metaphorically, just seemed immensely powerful and even more so…. Off.

“Lazarus.” Her mother’s voice was clear, the lilting sound of her accent wrapping around the strange name as both pairs of eyes locked together. Noelle noticed that she switched between their native language, the sound familiar and bubble-like, and something else. It was harsh, a little more jagged.

“We left before anything truly terrible happened to us. But there were still fires, still so much destruction. So many dead We both know that it has happened before and will happen again, we are foolish to think that any of our homes are going to be better off than )other planets. You and I both (know this will be far from the last, to but please, hear me out she needs to be safe! She can't come with me..."

Noelle found herself staring at her mother as she spoke, but her eyes kept drifting to the man standing across from her. As she continued speaking, his expression not changing, even as her voice tightened. He did, however, lift a quick hand, staring back with those too-bright eyes. He said something in that foreign language. Noelle hadn’t a clue what was said, but it obviously upset her mother, who bristled and leaned forward ever so slightly.

“No! She has nowhere to go! You and I both know that, wherever I go, our chance of finding employment is dismal. I am NOT watching my child starve as I scrape two pennies together from whatever pisspot job I find! She deserves a chance, and you know it. And you also know that we wont survive long together. People don't look too kindly on refugees, especially those from countries that are suddenly war-torn. I will send money when I get it, you know my word is good on that You owe me, Lazarus.”

Years will pass and Noelle will still wonder the nature of her mother’s relationship with the man. One day, she would find out just what the woman had acquired for the man, long before Noelle was born. She would find scraps of that story, piecing it together, but now? Now, she could only speculate. Large, dark eyes stared, her young mind trying to untangle it all.

The two of them continued to speak in hushed tones, now with more of that harsh language that made Noelle’s ears hurt. At one point, the man said something else that made her mother’s eyes grow big and round, her hand drifting to her belly for a moment. She said something in their language, but it was a word Noelle hadn’t heard. Or, rather, hadn’t heard as clearly as she did right now- her mother muttered it once or twice on the ship when she thought Noelle was asleep.

“Only long enough for me to find a job and a good place to stay. A year, maybe two at the most! I can hold off the next one's birth for that time, all of the females of my people can during times of great trial. Do not worry about the arrival of the next one, I can sort it out until then But she won't be able to stay with me. We BOTH know that is a fact.”

Finally, the adults turned away from the girl, now only using the new words, so it was pointless to try and follow along. But, Noelle found herself feeling small without the gaze of the adults over her, the lines and lines of shelves towering over her…

But.

Slowly, she slipped off the bench she had been sitting on, her tiny bare feet padding their way across the courtyard. As she passed a small ponder, her hand reached to brush the water gently- the wet, cool water felt familiar on her fingers, a small comfort in the strange times she had found herself in. Her hand even responded to this, the dull purple lighting and brightening, but soon dulled as she passed. As she quietly tiptoed to the nearest aisle, the light changed as she got closer- it became darker, warmer, and somehow dense. As if, whatever was on the shelves was permeating in the air around it.

Speaking of…

Noelle’s small hands curled and followed the rows an rows of… well, she wasn’t sure what they were. In her 4 and a half years of existence, she had never seen the neatly lined up rectangles. When her fingers gave a featherlight tough, she found the material rough but pleasant, but her courage did not inspire her to reach out. Instead, she continued further and further, her fingers carefully tracing the symbols on the rectangles as she passed. That is until her hand fell through. She paused, turning to see there was a large hole, unprecedented in anywhere else in the aisle. In front of the shelf were a couple piles almost as tall as her of the objects on the shelf. One stack was with many different colors, while the others were matching, whether in color or strange symbols.

Carefully, and without truly thinking, Noelle’s tiny hands gripped a bright red object, before she inspected it, and padded to a pile of similar ones. With care, she placed it gently on the top. And then the next, a grey one with faded gold symbols. Her tiny index finger traced it, before placing it in another pile. This continued, the only sound of her soft footsteps as she unknowingly sorted all of the rectangular items.


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Time passed as she finished sorting, but she didn't mind. It was the closest thing to interesting and soothing since they had gone on that stupid ship. Though, she felt sad as she returned to the pile and saw one last thing to be sorted. It was a smaller one, one that was a deep green and had that slightly fuzzy texture that she liked to pass her fingers over. Her fingers curled around the edge as she explored, and to her surprised, it opened! Off-white, fluttery sheets fanned out before Noelle flipped it up, and very carefully, pawed through the pages. The same symbols on the cover were on the page, but also so many more! And so many fitted together! Noelle’s baby brow furrowed as she sat down her back against the opposite shelf, as she stared at the page and willed it to make sense.