Echoes of Harmony

Eagle’s Rest

Mornage, Stariek

20 November 3296

Skylar leapt from the aerobus as soon as the door opened, his feet hitting the concrete with a solid thud. A chill wind nipped at his nose. Rach followed more tamely. Both had a smile affixed to their faces. With a hiss, the aerobus pulled away from the wrought iron gate and into the air.

“I can’t believe you’re coming with us to the mountains.” Skylar could barely contain his excitement as the guards opened the gate, raising their hands in greeting to the boy and his friend. They both returned the gesture and started up the long cobblestone path. A dusting of snow covered the rocks. “We’re going to have so much fun. It’s been so long since you’ve come with us. There was a bunch of snow yesterday and today up there, so we’ll be able to have a snowball fight, or make a snowman, or whatever we want.”

“Yeah,” Rach whispered, smile still plastered on her face.

“Skylar, come on.” said one of the guards, Jordan Tyn, as they approached. He joined their protective detail just under a year ago when he graduated from school and was the nephew of Stariek’s Fleet Marshal of their navy, Eli Tyn. His brown hair just barely poked out from underneath the cap he wore. “You’ll need to give your friend a chance to talk sometime.”

“She doesn’t talk much anyway,” Skylar said with a shrug. His face immediately burned as he realized what he said. He turned to Rach and grabbed one of her hands in both of his. “Not that that’s a bad thing, Rach. It’s fine that you’re quiet, we like you all the same.”

“It’s okay,” she said, patting his hand as she pulled hers free. A faint blush touched her cheeks.

“Well, I’ll let you two lovebirds get inside and ready to head to the mountains,” Jordan replied with a wink at Skylar, whose face burned and turned scarlet.

“No, we’re just friends,” he said, pointedly looking anywhere but at Rach.

“Sure, sure.” Jordan shook his head as he continued his patrol down the path. “I give it a couple years before that changes.”

Skylar sped up, wanting nothing more than to put as much distance between them and Jordan as possible. Rach matched his pace without missing a beat. She gripped her backpack straps and kept her gaze on the ground.

A sea of green grass, the tips covered by frost and a sprinkling of snow, spread out to either side, broken up occasionally by oak trees. Their long limbs spread out wide. During the summer, when leaves covered the branches, they would cast shade across much of the yard. Skylar resisted the urge to go running to lay at the base of one. The last time he did, his mother scolded him for getting grass stains on his school uniform.

Every now and then, another guard wearing body armor patrolled, a rifle hanging from their neck by a strap. Some of them had been there for as long as Skylar could remember. Each nodded to Skylar and Rach as they neared them. Some gave them a wave. With a smile, he returned each gesture as he always did. Rach smiled, though she did nothing more.

“Hey, kids!” a gruff voice shouted from behind. Skylar and Rach both turned to see a black haired man with a thin beard walking towards them. The man was about half a meter taller than Skylar, towering over him. Body armor covered his chest and arms that looked almost like the chain mail the medieval knights in Skylar’s history class wore. When he was a couple meters away, he knelt and held his arms out. “You and your friend are just going to walk by without saying hi?”

“Sorry, Uncle Zayne,” Skylar replied, walking up to him and wrapping his arms around the man. Captain Zayne Alcatar, head of the Reid family’s personal guard, returned the hug with his usual intense pressure. Skylar, the air pushed out of his lungs, croaked out, “I didn’t see you there.”

“You gotta keep your head on a swivel. Constant vigilance and all that.” Zayne released Skylar before standing and ruffling his hair. He put his hand on the boy’s back and started guiding him towards the front door of the manor. Rach awkwardly followed at Skylar’s side, keeping her hands clasped to her backpack straps and looking at the ground. “And when are you going to stop calling me your uncle? I’m just your dad’s friend and bodyguard, you know.”

“Probably never,” Skylar said, shrugging and smiling up at him. “I’ve gotten too used to it. Besides, you might as well be my uncle.”

Zayne gave Skylar a look that seemed a mixture between sad and guilty. He squeezed Skylar’s shoulder gently.

“Thanks.” His voice sounded almost choked, one of the first time Skylar had ever seen the man show emotion. “I appreciate that.”

They continued on in silence, reaching a sort of plaza at the front of the house. A large oval fountain sat in the middle. In its center was a statue of an eagle, its wings outspread and mouth open as if cawing. Water shot from its mouth in a pair of streams in opposite directions. A row of bushes surrounded the fountain, though the flowers that once bloomed had long since withered and died.

The house itself was two stories and constructed primarily of a material meant to look like stone bricks. Its gabled roof rose twice as high above the second story. Chimneys for the many fireplaces in the different rooms poked above the shingles. The building sat at the far side of the plaza in a vee shape opening towards the cobblestone path. The right side of the vee was the large vehicle receiving area and garage where they kept a fleet of helicars for transporting both the Reid family and their security detail. To the left was a covered walkway with several doors leading to different rooms. All of these were currently closed, though a pair of guards currently stood underneath, keeping their eyes on the yard.

The front door was relatively unadorned save for a pair of semicircle towers with crenelations that rose halfway up the house. As Skylar and Rach walked underneath the balcony covering the entry, Zayne stayed behind.

“I’m going to run a quick perimeter sweep and make sure the vehicles are ready.” He held up his hand in farewell before turning and starting to walk away. “See you when we head out to the mountains.”

Skylar waved to Zayne as he walked off before turning to the door and approaching. A scanner built into the wood automatically analyzed him before a click indicated it unlocking. He pulled it open, letting Rach enter first.

Immediately inside was a two story foyer, a silver chandelier hanging from the middle. In both directions was a hallway lined with paintings of Stariek as well as Skylar’s ancestors, prior leaders of the planet. A set of steps in front of them led up to a small landing. An archway sat on either side, leading to the library on the left and the main dining room on the right. Past the archways, he could just make out the glittering marble of the grand room, where his parents normally held their extravagant parties.

“Mom, Dad, I’m home!” Skylar called out, turning as he entered to toss his backpack in the closet next to the door. Rach did the same, gently hanging it on a hook. They both took off their jackets, placing them on hooks on the inside of the door. “I brought Rach with me, that way we wouldn’t have to stop and pick her up.”

As he called out, his mother, Kaylee, came from the library. Her lips curved in a thin smile as she approached the two of them. Skylar’s stomach sank. Whenever she looked like that, it was never good news.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What’s wrong?” he asked at once.

“Your father wants to talk to you.” She looked at Rach and tried to make her smile more genuine, though Skylar knew it was fake. “Alone, if you don’t mind, Rach. Come on, we’ll go get a snack in the kitchen.”

His mother grabbed Rach’s hand and pulled her along before she had a chance to protest, leaving Skylar alone. He looked up at the archway leading to the library. A section of the bookshelves were just in sight, the leather bindings forming a myriad of colors. The stairs leading to them never seemed so daunting as in that moment.

Part of Skylar feared the worst. He knew his grandmother wasn’t in good health—his grandfather had died shortly before he was born. Could something have happened? Or was the trip going to be canceled?

With a deep breath, he climbed the steps, each one feeling like going over a mountain. More and more of the library became visible through the marble archway. The floor changed from tile to hardwood under the arch. Thousands of books, each perfectly aligned, lined the walls. The titles and authors written on their sides were too small to be legible from the arch.

On his left, a rolling ladder sat in the corner nearest to him, waiting to be used. Directly across was a set of doors hidden in the bookshelves leading towards his parents’ bedroom. It was currently closed, but he had played—and been reprimanded—in the room enough to know the passage was there. To his right, breaking up the shelves, was a fireplace, though it was currently empty. In front of this was his father’s desk full of books and thin datasheet tablets. Two plain chairs sat in front of it. A high backed chair made of some sort of leather was behind it.

In this chair was his father.

For the first time, Skylar noticed how tired his father looked. He had always seen him as invincible, energetic, ready to take on the world. But now, even though he was still fairly young, he just seemed drained. As if the crushing weight of leading the world was finally taking its toll on him after so many years.

His father stood and tried to smile, though it came out as forced as his mother’s. He gestured to the chairs.

“Skylar, welcome home.” His voice was the pinnacle of formality. “Please, sit.”

Like he was some sort of business or political guest. Skylar resisted the urge to roll his eyes or scoff. He did, however, follow the direction and took the seat closest to the archway. Part of him hated the way his feet still didn’t touch the floor, even when he sat all the way forward. He felt like a little kid waiting to be scolded.

His father walked around the desk and leaned against it, crossing his legs at the ankle and folding his arms across his chest. Skylar did his best to keep his gaze locked on the carvings in the wood of the desk.

“How was school?” he asked.

A simple enough question. Skylar’s past experience told him it was anything but.

“Fine,” he said with a shrug. There was no way he was going to offer more information than necessary. He wasn’t about to dig himself into a hole he couldn’t climb out of.

“Anything interesting happen?”

Another leading question. Skylar wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. Whatever he wanted to say, he would have to come out and say it, not hide behind veiled questions.

“Well, they had the job fair.” Skylar shrugged again. He looked his father in the eye. “Some of the booths were interesting. Unless you mean something else.”

His father sighed and shook his head.

“You disobeyed me, Skylar,” he said. The disappointment was evident in his voice. He walked back around his desk and held up a single finger. “I asked one thing of you today, and you couldn’t even do that.”

“You didn’t ask anything of me,” Skylar replied, trying to keep his voice calm. The heat rising to his face told him he was failing. He frowned and crossed his arms. “Headmaster Alagin was the one who told me you didn’t want me to go to the pilots’ booth. Not you.”

“And that makes it okay?” He rose his voice, an occurrence that was becoming more common than Skylar would have liked. Ever since the last election didn’t go the way he wanted. “What were you even thinking, ignoring Senator Maneli like that? She helps ensure our planet continues functioning from day to day, and she was ready to talk to you about how the government works.” His father turned and slammed his hands against the desk, causing Skylar to flinch away. “Something you need to know, yet you keep forgetting. It’s almost like you don’t want to be Provost when you grow up.”

“Maybe it’s because I don’t want to be Provost, Dad!” Skylar yelled as he clenched his fists. His breathing increased. He jumped to his feet, causing his chair to tip backwards and hit the ground with a bang. “I want to fly spaceships. I want to explore the galaxy. I don’t want to be stuck here like you are.”

“We can’t always do what we want,” his father said, lowering his voice. “Sometimes, we have to do what is right for Stariek. Unfortunately, the two rarely align with one another. Our family has been making sacrifices for generations.”

Skylar knew what he was doing; he knew his dad long enough, and he wasn’t going to let him control the conversation like that like he always did. Not this time. He wasn’t allowed to escalate and deescalate when he thought it suited him. If his father wanted a shouting match, he was going to get one. No matter how much he tried to back out.

“Just because you were forced to become leader doesn’t mean I need to be,” Skylar hissed.

“That is what hereditary means, Skylar. You are expected to be leader when I am no longer able.” His father sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t want to fight with you, Skylar. Especially not when your friend is here and we’re supposed to be going on vacation. Please, just behave for once.”

For once. Skylar resisted the urge to snarl. All the dinners he played the role of the perfect son, all the balls he socialized with the elite and powerful of Stariek as expected of him, all the times he did exactly as his father and mother asked. They all meant nothing. One single misstep erased years of behavior that left him feeling more like a pet than a child. But, just this once, he was expected to behave. He stopped just sort of scoffing.

“Fine.” Skylar couldn’t help but chuckle. He continued shouting for no other reason than it felt good. “I’ll just keep being your perfect little boy who does precisely what he is told and doesn’t dare do anything that interests him. At least, not unless I’m told to. Let me know when we’re leaving.”

Skylar briefly saw a stunned look on his father’s face before he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room. His feet slammed into the ground with each step. The sound echoed up and down the entry hall. Echoed up and down the spiral staircase leading to his bedroom. He slammed the door behind him only slightly more forcefully than he intended. The walls quivered with the impact. It brought a small amount of pleasure to him.

In the center of the wall to his left was a four poster bed with blue and silver sheets. To the right was a door leading to his closet and bathroom. At the far side was the door leading to his balcony. For a moment, he considered going through the door to stand on the platform. He could see the backyard and its large pond through the windows. It was always relaxing to sit and watch the ducks in the water below. Even frozen and without ducks, the sparkling light was beautiful.

Now, though? He wasn’t so sure.

Instead, he tossed himself onto the bed and buried his head into his pillow. He wanted to scream, to let out all his anger. But when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Once, just once, he wished his father would listen to him.

#

Hayden sighed. The conversation certainly could have gone better. Before Skylar got home, he didn’t know how it would go. He didn’t even know what he was going to say. Not once, though, did he think his son would be so insolent. Skylar had always been so well-behaved. He never argued, never spoke out, just did as he was told. Hayden assumed, perhaps incorrectly, having the Headmaster of Silver Ridge pass along the message would result in more of the same.

Maybe Skylar had a point about not being forced to be leader. The stress of the job had certainly taken its toll on himself. He felt like he was snapping at others more than before. Perhaps he shouldn’t expect his son to bear that burden. But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he scoffed and shook his head. There was a process that had to be followed on Stariek. That meant the Reid family holding the office of Provost—something more akin to a king, though not quite so medieval—and deciding whether the laws Parliament passed should be enforced or not. Without them, would someone else really be able to fill the gap?

There were some conversations a few hundred years ago of electing an official like those of the Western democracies on Earth in the twentieth through twenty-fourth centuries. However, after what happened to the Praesidium Union, that talk was quickly squashed. The Reid family may not have always made the correct or popular decision, but they never abused their power. It was their duty—his and, eventually, Skylar’s—to continue that legacy and ensure their name was not tarnished.

Hayden sighed and picked up the chair his son knocked over. He was still somewhat in shock at the sudden outburst. His son never behaved like that. Did Hayden do something to cause the tantrum? No, of course not. The child was just that: a child. One with short-sighted, reckless thoughts.

Still, part of him thought about going up and apologizing. Another managed to convince him it would do no good. Besides, they would be in the mountains in just a few hours. That always cheered Skylar up, and he would soon forget all about the argument.

He took one last look at the chair before shaking his head and walking out of the room to finish packing.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!