The fact that today is the second day of a long weekend is the good news. The bad news is that it has been raining since school at noon on the 19th, and it looks like it will be raining for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, when children and cubs go back to school, and parents go back to work, it is going to be very warm, and it will continue like that for the rest of the week.

Rhalhea and I just finished lunch, and she is drinking from Keridhar. We are in our room, alone except for Jhalhemha and Beshalhen. Jhalhemha is lying on my belly; I had thought she was going to take some nourishment from my chest teats, but so far she seems to be deciding whether she wants to go back inside and sleep or take a drink from Papa. I don't say anything, or encourage her, because what she wants to do is up to her.

On the 18th of this month I sent in my weekly column which appeared in yesterday's paper. I think I'm going to upset a few Alharhanians because I was pissed off at this one letter-writer who wrote he was going to start a campaign to make Tereskàdian omnivores. His reasoning was that if Alharhanians can eat both meat and vegetables, why can't Tereskàdians? So I laid back my ears, and the tip of my tail didn't need to be told to twitch, and I asked him if he had to learn to be stupid, or if it came naturally. It is readily apparent that this individual did not get an education, because even children as young as Arhen and Fhenha know that meat is the only food that Tereskàdians and whistling dragons can eat. But there are always individuals who want to change us, who want to adapt us to their ways. Why? Do they think they are better just because they are allegedly more intelligent, just because they can build, and destroy as well? What is I said, I have a tail; you should get a tail, too? Of course they wouldn't do that. Speaking of tails, I can't wait for the day when some bright Alharhanian is going to say, Why do they have a tail? We don't have a tail, so they shouldn't have one either.

All right, enough of this. As of this moment, Jhalhemha has retreated into my pouch. She is moving around in there, trying to get comfortable, but I know she will be asleep shortly. Rhalhea has finished drinking, and is now sitting beside me on the bed. She told me she was looking forward to going to Tereskàdhar, and this would be one trip we would take without any specific goal in mind, like mating to produce a cub, or hunting the most hateful Alharhanian in the Orovhian system.

When I told Khe'ăr and Lheana and the two sets of twins about it, they seemed to genuinely sorry to see us go. Nykha wanted to know if we were going to stay on Tereskàdhar, but I said I couldn't answer that. Most likely we would return to Alharhan, although it would be a long while before we came back. What about schooling for the cubs, Lheana asked. I would have to look into that, but I think the city of Monaran on Mhačăren has progressed in the last ten years so that it now has many new facilities, including a number of schools for various levels of education. If we decide to stay on Tereskàdhar, even just for a year, we will register Jhorhea and Rheža at one of the schools, so they can continue their education. Khe'ăr said that even on the ship there are classes for any cubs or children that travel between the two planets.

I look out the window, and the rain has slowed down to a drizzle. It has also cooled off considerably over the past few days, which I don't mind at all. Autumn is still about eight weeks ago, so I guess I shouldn't be too cheerful. There will still be hot days, humid days, that will make us Tereskàdians pant, and these days will last beyond the start of autumn. But somehow we cold-weather beings seem to come out of it without a scratch. We are overjoyed when winter comes and the snow falls, and to a small degree, Treskebhar and the surrounding area reminds us of Tereskàdhar.

Kykherhenha asks me if my complaints would be reversed if I came from a hot planet, like maybe Fhavharěl, the second planet out from Orovha. Of course, I said. Then I would be complaining that the winter is too cold, and I would rejoice at the hot summer weather. But all that is rather academic, isn't it? We are what we are.

On the morning of the 19th Rhalhea and I went to the spaceport to get the tickets for us, and for our cubs, and our whistling dragons. Because we are Tereskàdians we do not have to pay for the tickets. Yeah, yeah, I know. We Tereskàdians get a lot of freebies now. Well, what did you expect after hundreds of years of abuse and tortute and near extermination? The Alharhanians owe us, and they will owe us for many years to come.

Bhe. 21.99/Day 162

It is a beautiful, sunny day outside, and Kykherhenha and I are sitting by the water of Te'hănys Bay. Alharhanians who are not working, or who have decided not to work today, are spending their time at the beach, and most of them are nude. I even see a few children among the Alharhanians, and I wonder what excuse they offered their schools in order to stay away from their education today. We Tereskàdians couldn't do that, because it is impossible for us to tell a lie. Besides, beautiful day or not, today is a school day, and four Alharhanian children and two cubs who live in the house behind me, are at school right now, getting an education.

A few minutes ago, I took milk from Kykherhenha, and thought brought a crowd over to watch me. You'd think it was something new and innovative when the whole dang planet knows that Tereskàdians can only drink the milk of their whistling dragons. But still they stand in a semi-circle and make quiet comments that I'm not supposed to hear, but if I turn up my hearing to maximum I can hear every word they're saying. I have noticed that, unlike ten or fifteen years ago, the remarks are no longer crude and vulgar. Another step in the right direction for Alharhanians.

As I watch a family of Alharhanians - Mom, Dad, two cubs… children - swim near the shore of the bay, my mind is on the possibility of a trip to Tereskàdhar. Last weekend - the 9th - I sat down with Rhalhea and our two cubs (Jhalhemha was sleeping in Rhalhea's pouch), Khe'ăr and Lheana, as well as the two sets of twins, and I told everyone what I had in mind. Well, right away Arhen and Fhenha got all excited, and said they wanted to go, but Lheana quickly put a stop to that outburst. Khe'ăr told me and Rhalhea that if we don't take the chance of going on the first of Mharhachyzh, we would have to wait until almost the end of the year before we could go again.

Later, that evening, after the others had gone to bed, and after Jhorhea and Rheža, and their whistling dragons, had fallen asleep, Rhalhea and I talked about this long into the night. It seemed to me that my mate wasn't sure if she wanted to go; while Tereskàdhar was the planet where we were born, it also held a lot of bad memories, not the least of which was the systematic murder of our parents and friends, as well as the rape of my mother. And Rhalhea wasn't sure we should have the cubs exposed to all that.

I let her talk, and she told me what she thought of the trip to Tereskàdhar. It wasn't that she was really against it, but that she was apprehensive. There were now more Alharhanians than Tereskàdians living on Tereskàdhar, and many of them had not given up their old ways when it came to the Tereskàdians. When the Tereskàdian Act was made law, it not only included all the countries of Alharhan, but also the planets Tereskàdhar, Jhanhekhar, and any other planet where the Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons might take residence. But stubbornness is a hard thing to eradicate, and the Alharhanians on Tereskàdhar, especially the older ones, still think of us as animals.

When she was done I told her that I had already made up my mind to go. We discussed the fact that we were there just the year before, but I said that was because we wanted to conceive our third cub there, and we wanted her to be born on 'Hănharys, just like Jhorhea and Rheža. This time, it was going to be a vacation; this time, we would spend our time not only on 'Hănharys, but also on Mhačăren. We would tour the city of Monaran as free, and protected, Tereskàdians, and we would not walk in fear.

She said she would think about it, and let me know in the morning.

In the morning I told myself not to rush her, so I waited until she woke up, and drank from Keridhar. When she had quenched her thirst, she came over, put her arms around my neck, and told me she would go under one condition: We would stay on Tereskàdhar not for one month, but for three months. If it takes us three months to travel there, she said, and three months to travel back, spending only one month on Tereskàdhar wouldn't be worth it.

Three months. That would mean the cubs would miss nine months of school… or more, since the three months Rhalhea was referring too meant three Tereskàdian months.

To be continued.

Bhe. 13.99/Day 154