We are well on our way back to Alharhan, but we are still closer to Tereskàdhar than to our destination. It will be just under three months before we reach Alharhan. I know we have a long way to go because we are still using the Tereskàdian calendar; when we reach the halfway mark, we will be informed that the ship is going to switch to the Alharhanian calendar. Speaking of Alharhanian calendar, I don’t even know what the date would be there right now, but figuring it out roughly, Alharhan should be halfway through the year 5699.

Damn, every time I think of a date, it reminds me of Tharhedhal and 5700. You try to deny it, but it’s just that the way he was so serious about it makes me wonder. We Tereskàdians aren’t psychic, we don’t predict the future. We don’t even give a damn about the future until it gets here. I remember my Mama saying, Live for today, don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet. And here is a Tereskàdian who is so sure that something disastrous will happen to Alharhan and Tereskàdhar.

I did it again. I’ve been thinking about this, and of course Kykherhenha has read my mind, and I have angered her again. We are in our cabin, alone, because Rhalhea has taken the cubs to the playroom on Deck 7. It’s been twelve days since we boarded the ship, and it’s been twelve days since I updated the journal, so I was glad when Rhalhea and the cubs left us alone.

We dined with Captain Lhuâdel on the third day on the ship. The captain asked us how we enjoyed our stay on Tereskàdhar, and when I told him what had happened to the village where I was born, I guess my voice was rather sharp,, because he looked rather surprised. I told him it was a matter of wanting to be back home, of wanting to stay, after what we had seen, Alharhan is the place we call home now. He wanted to know if we would ever go back to Tereskàdhar, maybe when the cubs were grown, and we were older. To die there? I asked. I looked at Rhalhea. Through our whistling dragons, she said, she wouldn’t mind spending our last years on Tereskàdhar.

But why am I thinking about that now? Rhalhea and I are twenty-six years old, our cubs are still living at home, and one of them is still nursing, so our thoughts are on a lot of other things besides old age and dying on Tereskàdhar. We Tereskàdians live a long time, so we still have about seventy, seventy-five years of life to look forward to. Old age and death are in the far future, and we are nowhere close to that, so we are not even going to mention it until the time comes.

Our cabin is on Deck 3, and as far as I know, we are the only Tereskàdians anywhere on the ship. I would have liked to have met other Tereskàdians, but now that Jhar Morněl is dead, there is no reason for Tereskàdians to flee their home planet. What I’m wondering about right now is the Tereskàdians who are living on Alharhan. Quite a lot have been born on that planet, but are they interested in learning about the planet where their parents, their grandparents, their ancestors were born? Or have they become so ingrained into the life of the planet Alharhan, that they don’t even care where their parents and grandparents came from? I’m a divided Tereskàdian; my hindpaws are firmly planted on both worlds, Tereskàdhar, because I was born there, and still have strong memories of the village where I was born and lived, and Alharhan, where I work now, and live
with Alharhanian friends.

Later that day I go to the library. They have enough books there to keep you satisfied the entire trip. They have these soft chairs you can sink into with your literary treasure and while away the hours. I had left a note for Rhalhea on the message board, so if she and the kids want to find me they know where I am.

I am amazed at how many books are still written about us. Not as many as in the 56th century and the early part of this century, but it seems that every time I look, there are new books being published. I am looking at a thick tome called ‘Sexual Interviews’ by somebody named Pherozh dhar Vhal who, according to his biography on the back, is a Professor of Tereskàdian Sexuality at the University of Treskebhar. Hmmm, I’m familiar with most of the staff at the University of Treskebhar, but the name dhar Vhal escapes me. I’ll have to ask Rhalhea about that, since she spends more time than me at the university now.

A thick book of interviews. Those Alharhanians want to learn everything about us, don’t they? When we do it, how we do it, why we do it… ‘Once you are locked to the female, do you ever want to change your mind?’ Now what kind of stupid question is that? Of course 100% of the Tereskàdians interviewed said, No. I mean, once you are inside a female, you can’t get out for three hours, so what is the use of thinking, I think I’ve changed my mind. A Tereskàdian’s mind just doesn’t work that way. Ah yes, another case of My mind is my mind, and your mind is your mind.

I must have dozed off a bit, because the next thing I know Kykherhenha tells me that Rhalhea and the cubs are here. The first thing Rhalhea does is pass Jhalhemha over to me, and the first thing my youngest cub does is go for my left teat. Rheža wants to know what I’m looking at so I show her the book. Jhorhea says she is bored. Bored! How can she be bored when there is so much to see and do on this ship. Except for certain restricted areas, you can go anywhere you like, see anything you like, do anything you like.

I put the book away, and my family and I go out into the hall. While most of the Alharhanians passing us ignore us, there are a few who offer greetings. The ship is a world unto itself, and for the three months it takes to go from one planet to another, we are its citizens, and we must abide by its rules and regulations.

This is a far cry from the time when Rhalhea and I and over one hundred cubs traveled from Tereskàdhar to Alharhan.

Pešhŏk. 16.489/Day 548