The month of Pešhănhashen is upon us, and this will be the month in which the snow will make its arrival. Right now, though, it is still a few weeks away, and the grass is still growing and the trees still carry their leaves. Ah, yes, the grass and the trees, they are not concerned with what is coming. When it gets here, we must accept the inevitable.

In my last entry I mentioned our visit with President Tevren Leskel. When he asked us why we had come to see him I wasn’t really sure. An informal visit, Rhalhea had said. Just to chat, I guess. He told me he didn’t really have time for an informal chat, but because we had come all the way from Alharhan to see him, he would make an exception in our case. So he waited for us to speak first. I looked at Rhalhea and she looked at me, and through our whistling dragons, I asked her what we should talk about. Now you must remember that as conversation starters, Tereskàdians do not exactly take first prize; I mean, we usually let someone else start the conversation, and if anything interests us, we might jump in with a comment or two. But here we were, sitting in the President’s office, and there was dead silence wrapping itself around us like a phaûphan vine.

The silence was broken when Rheža said she had to urinate, so President Leskel pointed to a door to his right. He waited until my daughter had disappeared, then said, There is still so much hate here. I didn’t know why that statement didn’t surprise me; I guess I had been expecting it. Did we - the Alharhanians and the Tereskàdians - really think that a bill designed to safeguard Tereskàdians from harm would change the closed minds of Alharhanians? The hatred they bear toward is deeply ingrained, and even a poke with the pen of the government wouldn’t be enough to convince them that we are not animals, but intelligent beings that deserve to live as much as they do.

Since the last time you visited this planet, President Leskel said, eighteen Tereskàdians have been murdered. And eighteen whistling dragons have died, he added unnecessarily. And the murderers have been very brazen about it.

Again, did that surprise me? Of course not. Those who defended these Alharhanians, those who sat in judgment of them, those who weighed the evidence and pronounced sentence, they were as closely knit as a ball of yarn. So these Alharhanians, murderers in every sense of the word, were free, gloating over their achievements.

I asked Leskel what kind of Tereskàdians they killed… males, females, cubs? He told us that most of those murdered were cubs, that is, Tereskàdians who were less than fifteen years old. Two of them were sexually mature females who were shot in the back, and the three adult males were ambushed on the island of ‘Hănharys, not far from my village.

And what was Leskel doing about all this? If he was so concerned about the Tereskàdians, then he should get off his behind and put his hind paws… I mean, his foot down, and put a stop to these killings once and for all. Now that he told me what was going on here, I was not afraid to tell him so. And when I did tell him, my ears were back, and my tailtip was flicking, and I was shivering, not because I was afraid, but because I was utterly, and thoroughly, enraged. The murderers of those eighteen Tereskàdians had no right to be on this planet; they should have been shipped off to Jhanhekhar a long time ago. That cold and barren planet would be suitable for the likes of them.

President Leskel told me that he would do everything he could do bring those Alharhanians to justice, and we believed him, but at the same time his statement frightened me, because I had this feeling that some, if not all, of those Alharhanians had been loyal to Jhar Morněl, and if they found out that Thekherham and his family were on Tereskàdhar right now, I could be marked. I was the one who killed Jhar Morněl, and there are those who will not forget.

President Leskel changed the subject by telling us that, while in office, he has created three new national parks, two on Mhačăren, and one on ‘Hănharys. I was interested in the one on ‘Hănharys, so he told us that the entire canyon, the river, and the immediate surrounding area has been designated a national park. That means, absolutely no hunting, unless of course you are a Tereskàdian or a whistling dragon. What about the village, I asked, and he knew I meant the village where I grew up. When he lowered his head, I knew what was on his mind. The village, which had been destroyed by Morněl and his men, still lay in ruins. I looked at Rhalhea, and she told me via whistling dragons that she still wanted to go there.

Despite the hatred toward us, and despite the murder of eighteen Tereskàdians since our last visit, the Tereskàdians were holding their own. It is hard to hold your own when the female Tereskàdian can bear only three cubs, and these five years apart. The one good thing about nature is that if there are too many males, for example (remember that all three siblings are the same sex), then she will compensate by having the female produce only female cubs for a certain period of time. But when somebody like Thalif VII or Jhar Morněl come along, that really screws up nature.

We spent about two hours with President Leskel. He wanted to know what life was like on Alharhan, and it was then that we found out that he had never been to Alharhan. His parents, and his grandparents had been born here, so for all intents and purposes, he was an Alharkàdian. I asked him if he ever wanted to travel to Alharhan, and he said he had never thought about it. Besides, he added, a city like Treskebhar may be a little frightening. I laughed when he said that, and told him that he was so right about that. It was hard to go from a small village, to a city of about twenty-three million. But I was getting used to it.

When we left the President’s office thoughts of the Alharhanians who had killed those Tereskàdians settled uncomfortably on my mind. Kykherhenha read my thoughts, of course, and she told me not to dwell on them too much. I held up my paws, extended my claws, and looked at them. So deadly, I thought. And then I wondered if I could get those miserable cowards to attack me so I could end their miserable lives.

I have no idea why that thought crashed into my head.

Pešhom. 20.489/Day 453

We were lucky enough to see President Leskel the day after I wrote the last journal entry. Since we were so close to the Presidential Palace (we could see it from out hotel room window) we took a leisurely walk there. I found it interesting that despite the Tereskàdian Act there were really not that many Tereskàdians and whistling dragons walking the streets of Monaran. This didn’t really surprise me because Tereskàdians would choose the grasslands and forests of Mhačăren and ‘Hănharys over a city any time.

Before we went to see the President we groomed ourselves thoroughly. Rhalhea told me that I should groom myself more often because my fur looked absolutely horrendous. Horrendous! That’s the word she used, although I wouldn’t exactly agree with that assessment. Sure, my fur was a little scraggly, and my tail looked like fluffed-out tail feathers, but other than that, I didn’t think I looked that bad. But still, when you see someone important like the president of an entire planet then you should at least exhibit some modicum of neatness.

Let me tell you a little bit about Tevren Leskel. He is an Alharhanian (excuse me, an Alharkàdian) who should be at the top of my hate list because of his association with Jhar Morněl. Well, actually it was his sister, Fhelhomha, who was rather closely associated with Morněl, if you know what I mean. Tevren Leskel was with Jhar Morněl when the latter wanted to kill a female Tereskàdian named S’hĕrhe, but it seems that Leskel has a change of heart and he deflected the weapon, so that instead of shooting S’hĕrhe in the head or the heart he shot her in the abdomen. Unfortunately, she had a cub in her pouch, and as you can readily guess, the cub was killed instantly. Now, I don’t know what brought on this sudden change of heart on the part of Tevren Leskel, but after that he seemed a changed Alharkàdian, and the Tereskàdians had more support on their side.

So there we were, four Tereskàdians and four whistling dragons, and we were going to have an audience with President Tevren Leskel. (Well, actually, three Tereskàdians, because Jhalhemha was sleeping in my pouch). We entered through the large main doors, on which was the inscription: Different appearances should not make us different; it should bring us closer together. Once inside, we found ourselves in one of the largest lobbies I have ever seen (although I think the one at the Presidential Palace in Treskebhar might be slightly larger). Straight ahead was a large curved desk where the receptionist welcomed visitors and asked what they wanted, and gave them visitor’s badges. Since we were Tereskàdians we did not have to wear these badges.

When I told her that we had come to see President Tryslen she told us that the President was very busy, and we should have made an appointment. When I looked at her, I could tell right away that she was lying, that the President was about as busy as a nransasrhafhamsem. I asked her when he would be available, and she told us not for a week or two. That really made my canines throb, and I laid back my ears and twitched the tip of my tail, which she noticed right away. She told me she couldn’t allow an animal to see the President, and as soon as she said ‘animal’, I knew what kind of Alharhanian (damn, I meant Alharkàdian) she was.

Luckily for us, a door made of some dark wood opened to our right and President Tevren Leskel stepped out into the lobby. He started to say something to the receptionist, but noticed us instead. Now, to all Alharhanians we Tereskàdians look pretty much all alike: tall, slender, long, narrow muzzle, auburn fur, long bushy tail that’s also auburn, but with a black tip, pointy ears (males have ear tufts, females don’t), so the only way to tell Tereskàdians apart is by looking at our white collars with the red diamond symbol. The name of the Tereskàdian and his or whistling dragon is inscribed on that collar. I find it amusing that Alharhanians, because of their inferior eyesight compared to Tereskàdians, have this habit of venturing as close as they can to read the names on the collar.

Thekherham, he said, and a wide, white-toothed smile appeared on his face. And then he went to Rhalhea and read her name, and the name of her whistling dragon, and he did the same thing with Jhorhea and Rheža, and their whistling dragons. The next thing Alharhanians usually do is look at our chests. It wasn’t hard to figure out that Rhalhea and I had a cub in the pouch because our chest teats were showing… Well, they were kind of hidden in our fur, but there was no mistake about us having a nursing cub. He asked us who had the cub, and I told him I did. In or out? he asked, and I said she was a tweener. He looked somewhat sympathetic; I guess he knew what it meant for a Tereskàdian to have a cub who was both in, and out, of the pouch.

He invited us into his office. Like the lobby, it was large, and it seemed that there was a lot of empty space. The first thing I thought of was pretentiousness; it seems the higher your station the fancier you have to get in the way of living space. Since Tevren Leskel was the president of an entire planet I suppose he was expected to be above the mere mortals calling themselves Alharkàdians and Tereskàdians.

There was a huge desk near a large, bare window (no blinds, no curtains), and this was the neatest desk I had ever seen. (It sure outdid the desks of Alharhanians like Khe’ăr Dhoren, and Thyros Mharen when it came to neatness). There was a large black leather chair behind the desk, and two chairs (smaller, not leather, though) in front of the desk. There were three bookshelves which started beside the window and carried on to the next wall. And these bookshelves were bigger than the ones in T’henhar ‘Hărlen’s home. When I saw that they were absolutely stuffed with books I wondered how anyone could read everything. Or were they just there for show? A file cabinet stood just behind Leskel’s desk, on the other side of the window, and like the bookshelves, it looked large enough to contain information on all the Alharkàdians and Tereskàdians who lived on this planet.

I looked outside the window and saw a garden outside, and I wonder if gardening was Leskel’s hobby, or if other Alharkàdians tended to it. Kykherhenha stood beside me, and she told me that she saw a devred sleeping underneath one of the large-leafed plants. I hadn’t really noticed, and, frankly, I didn’t really care about some nocturnal animal sleeping the day away. Besides, a devred was a carnivore, so we Tereskàdians, and our whistling dragons, wouldn’t even touch it.

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention the carpet. Brown. I thought it was rather ugly, and if someone were to ask me what I thought of the carpet color, I would be honest and say exactly what I thought, because I was a Tereskàdian, and Tereskàdians cannot lie. But I was sure President Leskel wouldn’t be asking about my opinion of the color of the carpet. I must say, though, it was rather thick, because our hind paws were almost buried in there.

President Leskel invited us to sit down, so we sat. The first thing he wanted to know why we had come to see him. My whiskers twitched because I didn’t really know, and when I hesitated, Rhalhea jumped in and said it was just an informal visit. He asked us how long we were going to stay, and where we were going, so I told him that we were thinking of staying for about three months, and we were going to see a few sights on Mhačăren, and then travel to ‘Hănharys to see… what? My village… the lake… the canyon… For some reason I felt uncomfortable telling him this, because here was an Alharhanian (yes, I know I’ve been trying to say Alharkàdian, but to me he was still an Alharhanian) sitting in front of me, and one of his kind raped my mother, and brutally killed her and my father, and the rest of the adults in my village. And that happened only about ten years ago, so we are not talking about some dim, distant past.

I am going to take a break here, because Kykherhenha tells me she is full of milk, and wants me to drink. And Jhorhea and Rheža are crying for food, so Rhalhea says she is going to go out, and get some meat. We have taken enough money with us to cover a three-month vacation period because Rhalhea and I believe that, even though we do not have to, we would rather pay for what we buy. (Even in the city of Treskebhar, on Alharhan, we pay for what we buy.) Mind you now, a lot of Tereskàdians are not of the same opinion, but I’m not like every Tereskàdian.

So now I’m standing in the hotel room, looking at Kykherhenha’s prominent teats. I will get back to this journal very soon (you hope, Kykherhenha says), and I will write more about the conversation Rhalhea and I had with the President of Tereskàdhar.

Pešhom. 18.489/Day 451

In four days it will be fall, which should actually be called pre-winter because in about twenty-eight days the snow season will begin, and for the next four hundred days this planet will be covered with snow. Well, let me correct that: the two land masses known as Mhačăren and ‘Hănharys will be covered with snow. Scientists who have studied this planet can tell you almost down to the precise hour when it will snow: Pešhănhashen 25th. I have no idea how they can figure it out so precisely, but I guess they have methods.

So for the next four hundred days it will snow, and the snow will accumulate until the 25th of Menhashen. It seems that once enough snow has fallen to cover the two land masses, snowfall actually slows down, and there are many days during the snow season when there is no snowfall. The snow season doesn’t bother us Tereskàdians, but it’s the late spring and early summer season that you have to watch out for. It is at this time that living near a river or a lake isn’t such a great idea. Once the snow has melted and we are in mid- and late summer, it isn’t so bad. Plants actually grow, and animals thrive, and there is food aplenty for both herbivores and carnivores like the khobharet and the Tereskàdians.

The first thing we did when we did when we reached Monaran was to find a place to stay. I noticed that a lot of construction has been done since I left this planet over ten years ago. According to statistics Monaran now has a population of 22,000, give or take a few, which includes about a hundred and fifty Tereskàdians (and, of course, one hundred and fifty whistling dragons). We were told that the best place to stay while in town was the Hotel Chădemhal, one of the newer buildings in town. It was conveniently located near the Presidential Palace, which suited me just fine.

Because of the Tereskàdian Act, which is applicable to both Alharhan and Tereskàdhar, Tereskàdians do not have to pay for any service, or anything we buy. Of course there were squawks and protests from the Alharhanians, and even some Tereskàdians said they didn’t want to be treated like that. They wanted to earn their way, and the only way they could do that was to get employment. Many Tereskàdians on Alharhan and Tereskàdhar now have employment, although many do not want anything to do with factory work, or other menial tasks. Which I don’t understand, since not all of us can be teachers, or office employees, or vice presidents of large companies.

I count myself and Rhalhea lucky. I have worked at the University of Treskebhar, I am a field editor for a magazine about Tereskàdians, I count myself as a writer, because I am currently working on my autobiography, and the University of Treskebhar Press has shown interest. Rhalhea is currently teaching at the university, and it looks like she will be there for quite some time. But that is just me and Rhalhea. I guess you could say you have to be there at the right time and the right place, and of course, you have to know the right Alharhanians.

I am writing this in Room 772 of the Hotel Chădemhal, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to write much more. Rhalhea tells me if we want to see President Leskel we should leave right now because it is almost evening, and she does not want to disturb the President while he is eating dinner.

So I guess I will leave this journal for now, and tell you what happened at the Presidential Palace next time.

Pešhom. 14.489/Day 447

Considering that Rhalhea and I traveled to Tereskàdhar last year so that we could mate and have Jhalhemha born on Tereskàdhar, this time would be the first time since we left the planet over ten years ago that the conception and birth of cubs would not be on our minds. This time, Rhalhea and I, and our three cubs, and our whistling dragons, would spend three months on this planet, seeing the sights on Mhačăren, then traveling to ‘Hănharys to visit those Tereskàdians who had decided to stay on this planet, and who had survived Jhar Morněl’s ruthless campaign to exterminate them.

One good thing about being a Tereskàdian is that we don’t carry around much luggage. We are standing in the huge lobby of the station, and I am watching dozens of Alharhanians scurry to and fro, carrying luggage and small bags. Ah yes, I don’t mind having fur on this planet. Summer here is like Alharhan’s late fall; the temperature is above freezing, but not that much. Oh, there is a brief month or so when it really warms up, but for the most part Tereskàdhar can be described as very, very cold.

Rhalhea wants to know what are we going to do, and where are we going to go. I told her that I wanted to visit President Tevren Leskel, and ask him about the status of the Tereskàdians on this planet. When the Tereskàdian Act was made into law on Alharhan about six years ago those who enacted it made sure that it would apply to both Alharhan and Tereskàdhar, but that did not mean that all the Alharhanians on Tereskàdhar had suddenly embraced the Tereskàdians. I was sure that many of these Alharhanians in the lobby hated us and wanted us dead. Fortunately for us, killing a Tereskàdians, or even wounding one, meant a heavy penalty: life on Jhanhekhar.

I was carrying my autobiography in a weather-proof folder. I don’t know how much I was going to get done, and I didn’t really set any goals for myself, but I was determined to get some editing done before we left for Alharhan again.

When I walked past a mirror on one of the walls in the lobby I really noticed how scraggly my fur was. I told Kykherhenha I looked like I had been in a scrap with someone, and she agreed with me, a little too readily, I thought. I told myself that the first thing I would do once we were settled in was to groom myself thoroughly.

We took one of those large buses to Monaran, you know, the ones that can accommodate both Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons. The bus was almost empty, but even so, I didn’t like the looks we were getting. I think it is so hard for Alharhanians to overcome their prejudices, and no matter what documents you pass into law, their minds remain closed. But the worst part of all this is that so many of them lie, straight to your face, to a Tereskàdian who can read lies as easily as he can read a first-grade spelling book, and they tell you that oh, yes, they have nothing against the Tereskàdians when you damn well know that they would like nothing better than to blow your head off.

The bus stopped in front of the Center Square near the Presidential Palace in Monaran, and Tereskàdians and whistling dragons walked down the steps. There is a statue dedicated to the founder of Monaran, the Alharhan who first had this dream to build a city in the middle of the continent. I don’t know what he was thinking, but it seems to me that it must have been summer when construction began, and maybe he thought that Tereskàdhar was not such a bad place after all. And this despite a long winter season, snow everywhere, and the hungry white blizzard that can blast across the land without warning.

One thing I must say for the Alharhanians, they are a determined bunch. All they have is that hair on top of their head, and that abdominal fur patch, but they are still here, still living on this planet, still working. And most of them were born here. But hey, that does not make them Tereskàdians. We are the Tereskàdians, those of us who have auburn fur, and a long bushy tail, those of us who are carnivores, who drink milk from our whistling dragons. As a matter of fact, one of the amendments to the Tereskàdian Act states that only Tereskàdians are allowed to call themselves Tereskàdians. When that law was passed you can be sure there was a lot of bitching from the Alharhanians living on Tereskàdhar. We’re Tereskàdians, they cried. No, you’re not, those who wrote the Tereskàdian Act, said. After much wrangling it was agreed that the Alharhanians living on this planet would call themselves Alharkàdians. As far as I know that was fine with us Tereskàdians; we were willing to give them part of our name, as long as they realized where their ancestors came from.

I am going to stop right here, because we are going to see President Tevren Leskel. Well, actually, I should change that to ‘try to see’ because I know he is a very busy Alharhanian… I mean, Alharkàdian. Last time Rhalhea and I, and two of our cubs were here, we had to wait most of the morning to see him. And this is the President who once said, You can come and see me any time. I’m always available. Was he lying? Well, not really. He was available, all right, it was just a matter of what time was most convenient for him.

Pešhŏmenhashen 7.489/Day 440

I know it has been twenty-two days since I lost wrote something in this journal, and I don’t really have an excuse. Kykherhenha just told me it was laziness, and I think I have to agree with her. The most obvious phrase that I can think of is, I didn’t feel like it.

There is a new month and Tereskàdhar is already seventeen days into that month. Looking at a calendar on the wall in our cabin, I realize that the snow season, which lasts about ten of Tereskàdhar’s eighteen months, is only about five weeks away. Not that we mind; after all, we are Tereskàdians, it’s just that I worry about dŵeshades, that fierce snowstorm that comes raging across the landscape, devouring everything with it whiteness, until you can’t even see the paws in front of your face.

We are going to land today, at the spaceport not far from the coastal town of Jinhas. My family and I, and our whistling dragons, will be going on the fifth shuttle, along with Tharhedhal. I don’t much relish the idea of his company, but I guess there is nothing I can do about that. Kykherhenha wants me to speak to the captain, but I can live with the Tereskàdian doomsayer for a short time. Kykherhenha could read the bitterness in that epithet. You shouldn’t call him that, she said. Now that I think about it, I might have gone a little overboard with ‘Tereskàdian doomsayer.’

This will be my last entry aboard the ship. When all the passengers have departed, the ship will wait for the Alharhanians and Tereskàdians who are traveling to Alharhan. Another three months of travel.
Jhalhemha is out and nursing on my right teat. The other two cubs are excited about finally getting off the ship. I told them we would be in Jinhas for only a short time, then we would travel to Monaran, the capital city of the continent of Mhačăren, and perhaps we would meet the President of Tereskàdhar, Tevren Leskel. It seems kind of odd to say that someone is the president of an entire planet, but there really isn’t much to it, just a large continent, and a large island. It isn’t like Alharhan, which has four continents and fifty countries and each country has its own president, or prime minister, or king or queen.

I have been working on my autobiography. I have been reading it out loud, so I can find all the spelling mistakes, and all the stupid mistakes that has Rhalhea and Kykherhenha and even my cubs asking me what I was thinking when I wrote the first draft. First draft, I told them. That’s exactly what it is, so it is bound to have mistakes.

I know this will be a short entry, but we have just been called to disembark, so we have to be ready when the shuttle leaves. So I guess the next time I continue this journal, we will be somewhere on Mhačăren.

I know we will be going to ‘Hănharys, my birthplace, but my mind is divided on that. On the one paw, it will be interesting to see my village again; on the other, it will bring back so many memories, good and, unfortunately, bad.

We shall walk that path when out hind paws tread upon it.

Pešhŏph. 34.489/Day 433