A Weapon’s Serenade

“A pattern emitter is a radioactive object that emits radiation in a repeating pattern without decaying.”

“That seems impossible.” Serena raised an eyebrow.

“It is. As far as I know, not even the demons have ever managed to create one.”

Famine nodded. “We have attempted it again, we failed again.”

“But it’s not a natural thing, it can’t be, right?”

“As far as we knew, it is purely theoretical. Now we have two mentions of a supposed pattern emitter. Famine, did mister Johnson hand it over?”

Famine took a moment to think through her response. “Yes. We confirmed it is a pattern emitter. We do not know it’s origin. We know that his analysis was correct. It is a list telling of a map and a key but it serves another unknown function. We do not know any more.”

Kuria asked Isha the obvious. The siren shook her head and responded with a lengthy sentence. “Isha doesn’t know about more than one pattern emitter. She also doesn’t know anything beyond it existing.”

Serena looked down at the sand in thought. “Besides this apparently very important artifact, I am super curious about siren myths. Like the myths they have.”

“Then I shall ask.” Kuria did just that.

Isha’s expression immediately lit up and she began to tell tales of adventurous sirens travelling into the arctic oceans, explorers who found humans on the coasts, the first sirens to travel into the deepest trenches of the ocean, legends of spirits living in volcanos, the first time someone saw birds, and her personal favourite: a tale about a siren who became friends with a human, learning how to read and write a shared language and sending each other messages until the human passed away peacefully.

Serena sighed contently. “I can’t read the words but I can feel how much you love all those stories… I wish this day would never end.”

Famine nodded understandingly. “I often feel the same. I will have to bring Melody to the university, I will return shortly. Maybe this will not be the only time you can meet Isha. We shall speak about that later.”

Melody got up. “Alright, I will see you later then. Kuria, can you tell Isha that I will come back in a bit, I have obligations to attend. Human science stuff.”

Kuria nodded and translated. Isha responded. “She wishes you fun and looks forward to seeing you again later.”

“I look forward to that too. Alrighty, see you all later.”

Famine and Melody teleported away.

Serena turned to Anne. “So your magical tools have limited range?”

Anne nodded. “In a way, while we can travel between Hell and Earth with them, we can only travel between several pre-set locations here. It’s supposed to get us acclimated to living with demonic abilities, not completely replace our human experiences.”

“Fascinating. I will need to ask so much about them later. Speaking of asking, you haven’t asked Isha anything. Why?”

“Because you have asked so much of what I want to ask already. There is something though. Kuria, can you ask her about siren art?”

“Anything in specific?”

“No, just in general.”

“Okay.”

Isha responded by wistfully describing beautiful images created by combing different kinds of stone for their texture and colour, sometimes as two-dimensional images, other times as fully formed statues. She also told of theatre-like plays and opera, songs of many kinds which were more like poetry as the sirens communicated through song normally anyway.

Of course, Isha returned the question and Anne eagerly answered.

After a few more hours of chatting and some snacks conjured by Kuria, who made sure that Isha also had something proper to eat, Melody and Famine returned. The sun was rising now and Isha had gotten comfortable resting her full length on the beach, letting the waves gently splash around her.

Serena put her bottle of water aside. “You know, Isha, you are incredible and so beautiful.”

Kuria translated. Isha tilted her head then reached out to nudge Serena gently before writing a little note with a smile.

“She says you’re cute for someone with legs.”

Serena blushed. “Oh wow. Oh dear. Thank you…”

Isha briefly widened her smile in response.

The time for big questions was officially over now, conversation had shifted to personal interests, the most recent events in everyone’s lives and some little personal stories. While there certainly was a cultural barrier to overcome, with the sirens lacking technology for the most part and the humans not knowing about most things in the depths of the oceans, understanding was still reached. Everyone here wanted to understand after all.

Sadly, the humans would eventually need to rest and return home. Someone like Serena, who was expected to talk to her professors in the morning, just vanishing without a trace would be noticed.

Melody frowned. “Famine has a way of contacting you, right?”

Isha responded with a quick “yes”. It was one of the symbols that the humans had learned to recognize today.

“Good. Maybe we can see each other again soon. Oh, maybe we can get a little submarine or something so we can meet underwater one day.”

 Isha liked that idea. There was so much she wanted to show her new friends that she suggested meeting again soon.

Famine agreed to coordinate another meeting.

Serena loved that idea too. She was saddened by having to leave, but even just this one meeting had brought a spark into her life that she couldn’t deny. “I want to discover all the fun animals you talked about, I want to just study everything and learn so much. Thank you, truly. Uhm… there is a thing humans do… a hug. Can I hug you?”

Isha wasn’t quite sure what a hug was, she just knew that humans found them good, so she agreed.

Serena hesitated for a moment and then spread her arms and hugged Isha’s belly as best she could.

Isha let out what sounded like a giggle as she reached down to pet the little human and draw a little response.

“She thinks this is cute. We can all have a hug.”

Anne, Melody and Kuria did not hesitate. Famine was happy to simply watch and Tiny took the opportunity to rub against the massive siren.

With that, everyone said their goodbyes and promises to meet again soon. Only Famine made sure to let Isha know that she would just send the girls home and remain here to discuss some options to help the sirens improve their living conditions.

Serena slumped back on the couch in the girls’ kitchen. “That was incredible.”

Anne nodded. “It sure was. I am so glad we can go meet her again someday.”

“Yea. Even if this was the only time, I can die happy now. I mean, I don’t want to die anytime soon but I feel fulfilled somehow but also like I have something more to do still, something different.”

“Oh?”

“Yea, I want to do more to help her, to help all of them. Not sure how, but I am going to find something.”

“Before you decide on anything, let’s wait for Famine and what she has discussed with Isha. Maybe the demons can actually help or will finally decide to do something.”

Kuria nodded in affirmation. “Across history, the demons have only stepped in on a large scale when no other solution was feasible or they were already involved in some way. With me as a demon and you three as associates of demons being involved with Isha now and interested in her well-being, Famine might have created a reason for the demons to help. I have to admit that humanity has pushed things far enough that even if Famine doesn’t return with the news that we want, I will go to someone else with the power and authority to help and ask for their assistance.”

Serena sighed. “You’re right. I can’t fix the world in a couple of days and waiting for the results and sleeping on it will not harm anyone.”

Melody put a tray of drinks on the table for everyone and sat down beside Serena. “Kuria, remember the thing with the city council last year?”

“What are you… oh.” A smile crept across Kuria’s face. “That is Famine’s style, isn’t it?”

Melody nodded. “It sure is. The city council, Nirrti’s paperwork, this is a pattern.”

Serena looked confused. “What is?”

“Nirrti is another demon who wanted to start attending lectures are the university and maybe get a human academic degree, just out of curiosity and fun. Being a demon born as one over a hundred thousand years ago, she has no human paper trail. No grades, no history, no home in this world, she doesn’t exist as far human bureaucracy is concerned. That is a foreign policy issue and thus falls into the purview of the inquisitors. Famine decided to take care of it and used that opportunity to force a permanent solution. After some negotiations and a little complaining from the government agency dealing with the demons, we now have proper passports as citizens of the Pandemonium. Well, not officially Pandemonium but specially issued diplomatic papers.”

“And the city council thing?”

“Famine was hanging out with us here and we usually have the radio on during that, for a little uhm… human music and to keep up with local news. Well, they announced that they wanted to create a new industrial park in the fields just outside our balcony. Those were more or less a buffer zone between the city and the nature preserve areas around the library and the forest beyond the hills. People love going for walks out there and just enjoy nature. It was not just a nice little bit of nature but also the closest anyone was allowed to encroach on library lands, something the librarians are very protective of. Famine made sure that the right people knew that those lovely grassy fields out there are not to be touched and file paperwork to make them part of the nature preserve. The industrial park is now going to be on the main road south.”

“Hm…”

“You see now? She has a history of forcing permanent solutions. She genuinely wants to find a way to help the sirens and you know what that looks like to me now.”

Serena nodded. “Yea. I shall hope for the best then. No matter what, this was a crazy day. Anyway, uhm… would it be too much to ask for some time chilling together again soon? Beside this whole knowing demons thing, you are pretty awesome and my other friends just went out to sea.”

Melody looked at her adopted sister and her girlfriend who both returned affirmative nods. “Thursday? Unless Famine contacts us with results before that.”

“Thursday… yea, sure. Should I come here or…?”

“Sure, then we can decide what we want to do once you’re here.”