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(Author's Note: Since the pronunciation guide may be a bit overwhelming, you may want to skip it, and go right to the first journal entry. But I'm still going to post it, so you at least have a choice.)


Before I even start this journal, I am going to give you a brief glimpse of the Alharkàdian language. Even though I tried to simplify it as much as possible, it still comes out as a large chunk of pronunciations.

Consonants:

b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, v, z – as in English

č – pronounced like ch; only in middle of word

ch – beginning – as in choose
middle – pronounced like kzh
end – pronounced like dzh

g – as in go, get

h – there is no ‘h’ sound in the Alharkàdian language. It is always used in combination with other letters (see vowels)

j – like ‘s’ in pleasure

r – slightly trilled; tongue behind the teeth

sh – NOT as in English

sha = sah, she = see, sho = soh, shu = sue
šh – šha = sha, šhe = she, šho = sho, šhu = shu

ŵ – pronounced like v and w together

ž – always in middle of word; pronounced like zh

zh – always at end of word

Vowels:
a as in bad; at the beginning of a word, pronounced as in father

e as in bed; at the beginning of a word pronounced as in bed

i as in bit; at the beginning of a word pronounced as in bit

o as in not; at the beginning of a word pronounced as in not

u as in put; at the beginning of a word pronounced as in rude

The ‘h’ that precedes each vowel modifies that vowel:

ha as in father

he as in be

ho as in note

hu as in rude

à – as in late, date

ě – pronounced like ö in German ‘schön’

‘h – pronounced like y in young, yet

y – pronounced like German word ‘Ich’
if not preceded by ‘h’ the ‘y’ sound is short
if preceded by ‘h’ the ‘y’ sound is held a bit longer

Although the letter ‘y’ is pronounced as in Ich (see above) when it is between two consonants, it is different when it is combined with the vowels a,e,o,u:

ay– ee

ey– ay

oy– oh

uy– oo(w)ee

If the letter ‘s’ precedes the above combinations of letters, the letter ‘s’ is pronounced like the ‘s’ in pleasure.

And one more thing that is absolutely written in stone:

There Are No Double Letters in the Alharkàdian Language

All right, I know what you’re thinking: Here’s this alien telling me all about his language with its complicated pronunciation, and I just don’t give diddly doo. O.k., I don’t really care, but there will be some really strange looking names in this journal and I thought it would be best to provide a guide to the pronunciation. For example, my name is Thekherham. If you check the pronunciation guide, you will find that it is pronounced like Tee kee’ rahm.

And now Thekherham brings you Thekherham’s Worlds. Let the adventure begin!

N’hoŵrhachyzh 4, 5698/Day 200

I am glad that Khe’ăr’s home is one of those that has room for all the Tereskàdians and whistling dragons, as well as Khe’ăr and Lheana, and the two sets of twins. Although the three whistling dragon cubs are still small (one is still in the chambers), it won’t be long before Khedrhokhazh’s size increases. Five more years and he will be as big as his father. Hopefully, by that time, my family will have a place of its own.

A few more clients came to see me. It seems that each teacher is instructing their students on different aspects of the lives of Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons. What I have noticed is that they come to me with the most basic questions. These are questions that have been answered in a number of textbooks, so I don’t see why they would come to me. But then there are other Alharhanians who want to know what something feels like. What does it feel like when I suck on Kykherhenha’s teats? What does it feel like when Tereskàdians have sex? What does it feel like when a cub nurses?

How do you answer those questions? I don’t know what it feels like. You don’t give it much thought. When your daughter sucks on your chamber teat you don’t think, Oh, that’s what it feels like.

But when I tell them that, they resent it. They expect me to have an answer ready, and a non– answer is a big disappointment to them.

Alharhanians ask us why we should still wear collars after all that has happened to us. To us, it is a memory of the past because we do not ever want to forget what happened to us. When Jhorhea was old enough I told her the story of the red and green and white collars, and soon I will be telling the history of the collars to Rheža, and when she is old enough, Jhalhemha will hear it, too.

CV=Color Value. W=1, Y=2, O=3, B=5, R=10, Bk=25.
TCV=Table Card Value. W=5, Y=10, O=15, B=20, R=25, Bk=50

Bonus: If 1 card in hand matches Table Card add 10
If 2 cards in hand match Table Card add 20
If 3 cards in hand match Table Card add 50
If 4 cards in hand match Table Card add 75
If 5 cards in hand match Table Card add 100

If a player had five black cards and his table card is black it is an automatic win.

Here is a sample game. Each step is explained fully.

These are the cards each player has in his hand:
PlayerA....PlayerB.......PlayerC.......PlayerD
1) W10...........Y2..............O1...............Y4
2) O6..............Y3..............O4...............Y5
3) B1...............Y7...............R6..............O2
4) B2...............B2..............Bk2..............R3
5) Bk7.............R2..............Bk10............R4
TC W5............Y8............... R7.............Bk5

The following is the scoresheet. The first count is the Initial Count:
PlayerA....PlayerB.........PlayerC..........PlayerD
NV 26...........16.................23................18
CV 39...........26.................66................27
Bonus 10...........50.................10.................0
TCV 5...........10................ 25.................50
Totals 80..........102...............124................95

After the score is taken for the Initial Count, the players can change their cards to improve their hands. They can choose none, or as many as five.

The player with the least point starts first:

Player A wants White, but he has only one. Discard O6, B1, B7, receives W3, W8, W9.



Player B needs Yellow, has three already. Discards Bs, R2, receives R5, Bk 1.

Player C needs red; discards all cards except R4. He receives B5, B9, R1, and Bk 6.

The following charts below show the cards held and the total points after the Second Count:
PlayerA.....PlayerB.........PlayerC.........PlayerD
1) W3.............Y2...............B5...............O9
2) W8..............Y3..............B9...............R3
3) W9...............Y7..............R1..............R4
4) W10.............R5..............R6.............Bk3
5) Bk8..............Bk1............Bk6.............Bk9
TC W5...............Y8...............R7...........(Red)
PlayerA....PlayerB.......PlayerC........PlayerD
NV 38...........18................27................28
CV 29...........41................55................73
Bonus 75.......... 50................20............... 20
TCV 5...........10................25............... 0
Totals 147.........119................127..............121

This time Player B starts: Discards R5, Bk 1, receives W4, B4.

Player D discards O9, Bk3, Bk9, receives Y9, O10, B10.

Player C discards B5, B9, Bk 6, receives W6, W7, O7.

Player A discards Bk 8, receives R8.

The Final Count is as follows:
PlayerA........PlayerB.......PlayerC.......PlayerD
1) W3.............W4..............W6............Y4
2) W8..............Y2..............W7............O10
3) W9...............Y3..............O7............B10
4) W10.............Y7..............R1.............R3
5) R8.............. B4............ R6........... R4
TC W5............... Y8..............R7...........(Red)
PlayerA......PlayerB..........PlayerC.........PlayerD
NV 38...........20................27................31
CV 14...........12................25................30
Bonus 75..........50................20................ 20
TCV 5...........10................25............... 0
Totals 132......... 92............. .97............... 81

Improvements of Final Totals over Initial Count (includes Table Cards in this calculation):

Player A:
Needed WHITE. Managed W3, W8, W9, W10 – Add 65 (Table Card Value 5*5=25+Color Value 1*5+Numeric Value 3+5+8+9+10)=40)

Player B:
Needed YELLOW. Managed Y2, Y3, Y7 – Add 68
(TCV 10*4=40+CV2*4=8+(NV2+3+8+7)=28)

Player C:
Needed RED. Managed R1, R6 – Add 119
(TCV 25*3=75+CV10*3=30+(NV1+6+7)=44)

Player D:
Needed Black, but switched to red after Initial Count.
Managed R3, R4 – Add 27 (TCV 0*2=0+CV10*2=20+(NV3+4)=27

PlayerA.....Player B.....Player C.....Player D
Final Count….132........92..............97........81
Additional……65........…68...........…119……….27
Total………..197........160……….......216…….108
This total is called the Final Adjusted Total.

We now calculate the difference between the Final Adjusted Total and the Initial Total:
Player A....Player B..... Player C... Player D
IC………..........80..........102.........124..........95
FAT…….........197..........160.........216........108
+/– ……........+117..........+58.........+92........+13

The Alharhanian calendar has fifteen months, or seventy weeks, or four hundred and twenty days. Compared to the six hundred days it takes Tereskàdhar to orbit Orovha, Alharhan’s orbit around that star is almost speedy by comparison. And unlike Tereskàdhar’s seasons which seem to melt into each other, so that there is almost no hint of spring and fall, Alharhan has clearly defined seasons (at least here in the northern hemisphere.)

Each Alharhanian week has six days. Both the work week and the school week actually lasts for six days of one week plus three and a half days of the following week, and this pattern lasts throughout the year. So every second week students and workers get two and a half days off. This is in addition to three separate vacation months the students endoy throughout the year. The next vacation months will be T’horhachyzh, which is the tenth month of the year.

So yesterday, and today, I finally get a reprieve from students and teachers who consulted with me about things Tereskàdian. I was glad when the bell rang half way through the day on the 12th, signaling two and a half days of freedom, and relief from all those questions. Sometimes I wonder if they even think about the questions before they come and see me.

Jhalhemha is back in Rhalhea’s chamber. The first thing I did after she transferred was to check my chamber teat. I could not understand why she would pull so hard, because I knew she was getting enough milk. Well, I know I have five days before it’s my turn to take her again.

Kykherhenha sympathizes with me, but I don’t know if she can really feel what I feel. No, no, let me rephrase that. Of course she can feel what I feel. When Beshalhen nurses I know it, but Beshalhen takes the teat gently, both in Kykherhenha’s chamber and in Keridhar’s chamber. Jhalhemha nurses gently when she is in Rhalhea’s chamber; only when I have her does she grab my teat like she is afraid she will lose it forever.

Maybe you should check it again, Kykherhenha suggested. Maybe there is an obstruction.

It’s perfectly fine, I told her. Of course she felt my twinge of anger because that question has come up numerous times.

Even though the weather is cooling off considerably many brave souls still insist on walking around in the nude, refusing to admit that fall will bring cooler weather. Cooler weather, drearier weather, rain, and more rain. Speaking of rain, on my first full day away from my desk, it rained and rained, from morning until late into the evening. It was the kind of day where you just wanted to stay in your room, and busy yourself with something that took your mind away from the constant pitter-patter of the rain outside.

I have written my autobiography which takes the reader from my birth to age seventeen. Since I am now twenty-five years old there is still more to tell, but so far I have not even started to write. When Rhalhea asks me about it, I tell her I’ll start one of these days, but so far ‘one of those days’ hasn’t materialized. Frankly, I’m not in the mood right now. Call it procrastination, if you want.

It is a beautiful sunny day today. Rheža tells me that S’horžăm wants to fly again. I want to ask Khe’ăr to take us to the usual spot, but he is busy in his office. I have noticed that he seems to be rather withdroawn the last couple of days, and I wonder if it is because of his father. Brekhan Dhoren died at the rather young age of forty-two, of a heart condition, and Khe’ăr has inherited his father’s ailment. Of course he takes his medicine which will hopefully extend his lifespan, but the life rope which he is walking on is very frayed, and one sure footing will keep him falling.

It is not until late afternoon before he finally emerges from his office and tells us that he would be glad to take us to that cliff, but it felt like he was doing it as a duty. When the bus arrived to take us there, he got on first and sat at the front, directly behind the driver, and looked out the window. Lheana sat beside him, and the older twins in the seat behind them. The younger twins, chose the last seats in the middle of the bus, close to the whistling dragons.

Rhalhea and I also chose a seat close to the back. I wanted to ask Rhalhea what was bothering Khe’ăr, but Kykherhenha warned me that now was not a good time to speak to Khe’ăr.

Is it because of his father? I asked.

His father died on this date, Kykherhenha said.

Seeing him like that, sitting up there, his eyes scanning the countryside as the bus hovered above the pavement guided by wires underneath, I felt nothing but sympathy for him, but at the same time, I was glad I was not an Alharhanian.

S’horžăm flew a little more confidently this time. And just as I had predicted, as soon as he had full control of his wings, he decided to show off by flying straight up and plunging to the ground with his wings folded at his sides. Rheža ran to the edge of the cliff, and I knew she was yelling at him to come out of the dive. I don’t know what he was thinking. If he was thinking that he could pull our of the dive at the last second he had a lot to learn. It takes time to go from vertical to horizontal, and from horizontal to vertical again, with your head up and your tail down.

Male whistling dragons are all alike. Even Keridhar was like that. He showed off when he was a cub, and the only thing it got him was an injury to himself and Rhalhea. Needless to say, his parents grounded him until he learned to fly responsibly.

Both Keridhar and Kykherhenha are now in flight. Keridhar had dived in pursuit of his son. Being much faster and more adept at flight than his offspring he reaches his son before he – S’horžăm – crashes to the ground below. When I look down the edge of the cliff I thank the Creator that it is a long way down, or S’horžăm might have hit the ground a long time ago.

When the young whistling dragon comes back up and lands beside Rheža you can tell that he’s been crying. I know his father has given him a mind-lashing, and he rightly deserves it. Rheža just goes up to him and hugs him, and I can hear her tell him that it’s all right, but please don’t do it again.

The newscaster on the large screen on the wall announces that a proposal has been made regarding the possible construction of a bridge in the southern section of the city. A bridge already crosses that part of the river, but it is a rather old bridge. As with all proposals that are voted on by Alharhanians and this city, there are three choices presented, and the citizens of Treskebhar have five days to pick one of the three choices.

Proposal 1: Repair the current bridge. Cost: 750,000L

Proposal 2: Tear down the present bridge and buid a new one in its place. Cost: 2.45 millionL

Proposal 3: Leave the present bridge and convert it to a pedestrian only bridge. Build a completely new bridge in an area as yet to be determined. Cost: 4.75 millionL

Whatever the Alharhanians of the city choose that is the proposal that will be implemented

N’hoŵ. 14.98/Day 210

When I was a four year old cub on ‘Hănharys I had my first encounter with an Alharhanian. Like all Tereskàdians I had this curiosity gene built into me, and I wanted to find out what all this fuss was about these aliens that walked rather boldly through our villages and acted as if Tereskàdhar belonged to them. So one day I went down to the lake near our village where I saw two Alharhanians – a male and a female – swimming. I thought this rather unusual because the weather had cooled off considerably, and beings who were not Tereskàdians should not have been in the water. When they emerged from the water I saw they were naked, and all I could think of was how crazy they must have been.

My mother and father taught me that all Alharhanians were evil and not to be trusted, but that was based on the opinion that the only thing Alharhanians had in mind was raping and killing Tereskàdians, and destroying their villages. I know Mama and Papa were only trying to protect me, but it was rather hard to accept their judgements when there were Alharhanians who had no intention of hurting us.

Despite all the warning to be careful, my parents were the ones who ended up dead. To put it bluntly, it was cold– blooded murder at the hand of an Alharhanian who would, in a few years, become the ruler of an entire planet. My father’s death was thankfully rather quick, but my mother suffered the indignity of a brutal rape, and what made it even more barbaric was the fact that she was not in heat. My brothers and I, and our whistling dragons, witnessed the incident, and it will stay with us until the day we die. I was fifteen at the time, my first brother Temžărhen was ten, and my youngest brother, Tez’hărhej, was five.

I don’t know why I’m dredging up bad memories. Sometimes I feel like I have to open the door of my mind and let them out, to remind me that, no matter how the Alharhanians have changed now, they are to blame for our miseries, our mistrust of them. Jackson told me that for every Alharhanian who wants to be our friend, there are a dozen who want to see us wiped off the face of both Alharhan and Tereskàdhar.

The fall season began yesterday, although you would had a hard time proving it. Sunny and hot, both yesterday and today, and into the near future. I am so looking forward to winter that I have spent time looking at the calendar, counting the number of days left until winter starts.

Yesterday, on the first day back to work after two and a half days of rest, I consulted with two clients, two veteran professors of Tereskàdianology who have been teaching the subject for the last ten years, and who should have known the answers to their questions. Why were they consulting me? I asked Sen Mharen that question later that afternoon, and he told me my job was to answer whatever was asked because the answer would then come with an air of authority. Being a Tereskàdian carried weight as far as the subject of Tereskàdianology was concerned.

I was a Tereskàdian of authority. That was what Sen Mharen had said. It did not make me feel any better, though.

T’heril Dhoren, one half of the older sets of twins, has telekinetic powers. When he was younger he used to flaunt it, especially in front of his twin sister who is not blessed with this special gift. Nykha resented it so much that fights broke out numerous times. Khe’ăr and Lheans put a quick stop to the hostilities by telling T’heril not to use his telekinetic abilities in front of his sister.

I want to quit my job, but I know I will have a hard time because family and friends want me to stay on. No doubt Sen Mharen will tell me it’s an important position, and the pay is decent. What important position? Tereskàdianologist consultant. What is that? Just a fancy title.

Kykherhenha wants me to do what is right, in my head and in my heart. That’s just the problem. My head and my heart are sending conflicing messages to my brain.

I will have to think about this.

I finished the poetry book by Richel Tholvhar. Two hundred pages of poems, most of them conisting of no more than eight or ten lines, although there was one long poem that ran to a hundred and seventy– five lines.

If I were to write poetry I would probably be the first Tereskàdian to do so. But that venture is way back in my mind, where only me and Kykherhenha are aware of it.

Arhen and Fhenha are hovering in the vicinity so I think I will continue this journal another day.

N’hoŵ. 16.98/Day 212

It has been five days since I last wrote something, so I thought I had better make a note of what has been happening during that time.

One thing that I have noticed during my years on this planet, and particularly in this city, is that during the fall it rains a lot. And this rain is the cold, dreary kind of rain that makes you want to stay inside and just draw the curtains, so you don’t have to see the steady stream come down from the sky. A couple of times over the last five days I got caught in this kind of rain and that sure doesn’t do much good for my fur.

All right, enough about miserable, rainy weather. Today, on the 21st of N’hoŵrhachyzh, Orovha has finally decided to show itself, and it is actually a really nice day... cold, mind you, which suits us Tereskàdians just fine, but at least there is no rain.

Two days ago, the entire adult population of Te’hănys (those registered to vote) chose one of the proposals I mentioned earlier, in regards to a bridge in the southern section of Treskebhar. During the five days – from the time the proposals are first put on the table until the voting – three members of the government take up one of the three proposals each, and try to convince the voting public that their proposal is the one they should vote for. This is accomplished mainly through speeches and debates, in which each proponent tries to give convincing argument for their choice, while the opponents argue against it. Sometimes the original proposals stand as they are, and sometimes they are changed, depending on how convincing each politician is. Let me say right here and now that I am not very well versed in the intricacies of politics, so most of what I have written here I acquired by asking Khe’ăr questions. One thing I do know, though, is that in the end it is the Alharhanians who have the final say.

Tereskàdians have only recently been given the right to vote. (That was another three– part proposal that was put forth about four years ago. The vote was extremely close: 54% voted in favor of Tereskàdians being allowed to vote, while 46% voted against it.)

I voted, and so did Rhalhea. We listened to each advocate as he championed his proposal and downplaed his opponent’s, and we tried to follow their reasoning, but most of what we heard went way over our heads, because of the big words they used and the long sentences they strung together. I tried discussing it with Kykherhenha, but all she was interested in was making sure that I got enough of her milk.

You are not really supposed to ask somebody how they voted. Technically, that is a private matter between a voter and his conscience. I wanted to ask Khe’ăr how he voted, but Rhalhea reminded me of the etiquette of private voting.

In the end I finally voted for the second proposal. I figured that it was time to build a new bridge in place of the old one. (During the presentations they showed pictures of the current bridge from every angle, including underneath and above.) I don’t know if that helped in my decision, but I felt a new bridge was the one I wanted to vote for.

Unfortunately, my proposal wasn’t under much consideration. When the final votes were tallied, 68% of the voting population of Te’hănys voted for Proposal 3 – to leave the present bridge as a pedestrian only bridge, and to build a new bridge somewhere in the vicinity. Proposal 1 received 28% of the vote, and Proposal 2 – the one I picked – received a mere 4%. It looks like the country of Te’hănys will spend about 4¾ million L’hŏr to implement the third propsal.

The good news is that the entire country was able to vote, because the bridge will be used not only by Alharhanians and Tereskàdians living in Treskebhar, but by those visiting from other parts of the country, and even from other countries. Sometimes, though, there are proposals that are restricted to the city of Treskebhar, such as, Where should a statue of a well– known Alharhanian who was influential in Treskebhar be erected? For proposals that are limited to the city only, the proposed budget is, of course, much smaller.

But enough about politics. Other things happened in the last five days, and we will start with the Dhoren family. Khe’ăr went for his semi– annucal checkup three days ago, and the doctor told him he would be just fine if 1) he takes it easy, and 2) he keeps taking his medicine.

Khe’ăr is a special investigator for the Department of Immigration, a department headed by his father– in– law, T’henhar ‘Hărlen. Unfortunely, the title of ‘special investigator’ isn’t really valid anymore. When he was younger Khe’ăr used to do a lot of field work, but time has taken its toll on him, and he has been advised to either quit his job and take it easy, or his funeral could be a lot of closer than he thinks. When I asked him if he thinks he will see fifty he said he might, but he is going to see if he can reach forty first, before he thinks of fifty.

Lheana has gone from hatred to mild toleration of outright acceptance of the Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons. When we first came to live with the Dhoren family it was clear that she wanted no part of us. She would try to avoid us as much as she could, but it was almost impossible, especially when Tereskàdians are accompanied by their whistling dragons. As the years passed Lheana gradually came to see us as an interesting species, and there have been numerous occasions when Lheana and I, or Lhena, Rhalhea, and I, have had conversations about different subjects.

The older twins – Nykha and T’heril – are doing well in school. T’heril is spending time with friends who have the same abilities he has. A few times he has brough them home, but each time Lheana has warned them immediately not to use their gift in front of Nykha. So what they did is retire to T’heril’s room where they telekinesis to their heart’s content.

Arhen and Fhenha, the younger twins, think that school is neat, but they don’t like the nine and a half straight days they have to attend. When they were younger, and just starting school, they went only nine half days before they had two and a half days off, and those days were spent playing and drawing and singing. Now they are eight years old, and schooling conists of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Jhorhea, who is ten years old, has settled in rather nicely as far as school is concerned. She has made quite a few friends, both Tereskàdhian and Alharhanian, and during the summer she used to bring home half a dozen of them. This did not please Lheana too much because, while the Dhoren home is extremely large, there is still only so much room for Alharhanians, Tereskàdians, and whistling dragons.

Jhorhea has homework almost every day now... well, at least six out of the nien and a half days she attends school. But most of the time she needs help, so it’s, Papa, can you help me with math, or, Mama, can you help me write a story. I am against helping her too much, but Rhalhea jumps right in there, and all but does the homework for her.

Rheža is in her first year at the university. I think the multitude of buidlings always overwhelms her, although the buildings that were built for the younger students are set off from those for the more mature students. But still, being five years old, and seeing students who are two, three, even four times older, can be a little overpowering. She is still a shy and frightened little cub, and, like all Tereskàdians, telegraphs her fear by tucking her tail between her legs, and shivering rather noticeably. But I’m sure that, like Jhorhea, she will grow out of it.

As for S’horžăm, he is making great strides in his flying lessons. He is getting coached by big brother Khedrhokhazh, which I don’t really like, because Khedrhokhazh is showing his younger brother fancy moves. Both Jhorhea and Rheža think this is really major, as they put it. Wow, that is so major, Jhorhea syas, but I don’t know how major it would be when Khedrhokhazh shows S’horžăm a stunt the younger whistling dragon can’t handle. I have told Jhorhea that whatever happens to her whistling dragon will also happen to her, but my lecture seems to be falling on deaf ears. I have told Kykherhenha to talk with her sons, and she has told me she would do that.

Rhalhea is looking for something to do because she is bored. She is very good with children but, because she is a Tereskàdian, Alharhanians are reluctant to hire her. What do they think she is going to do, roast them in the oven and eat them? Well, I know I shouldn’t have said that, but the way some Alharhanians behave, you would think we were huge, slobbering monsters with ravenous appetites. I told her to keep her eyes open, and eventually something would come up.

As for Thekherham... well, I had a long talk with Thyros Mharen the day after my last journal entry, and I told him I was not pleased with my job. He asked me what I wanted to do, and my whiskers just twitched as I tried to think of a position that would keep me at the university, but not sitting behind a desk, consulting with teachers and students. I said I wouldn’t mind teaching Tereskàdianology because, after all, I was a Tereskàdian, and he just looked at me, but I could see he was deep in thought. A Tereskàdian teaching Tereskàdianology, he mused. That would be something new for this university. Of course you realize, he added, there will be students who will be asking stupid questions. They will want to know everything about you. He said he would sleep on it, and let me know in a few days.

I ran into Jackson Markham Tyler on the way to the cafeteria, and I told him about my decision to quit my consulting position. If that’s how you feel, Thekherham, was his response, it’s up to you. He asked me if I was working on anything, and I told him I was trying to write poetry, but when I had read one of my poems to Kykherhenha, we both had a good chuckle. Thekherham, she had said, poetry is something you should leave to the poets.

Deep in the back of my mind I was thinking that maybe someday a Tereskàdian will write some decent poetry, and the comment from Kykherhenha was that it would most certainly not be a Tereskàdian named Thekherham. In order to immerse myself more fully into the world of poetry I went to the library yesterday, and took out a six hundred page anthology of poetry written by the major poets of Alharhan. One hundred and sixty-five poets, seven hundred and forty poems. If you want to learn about the different kinds of poems, this is the book to have.

Visitors over the past five days included the Thalen family. They spent most of the evening three days ago, playing pent’hăr, and talking about anything and everything. Rhalhea and I stayed in the living room for a short time, then excused ourselves and went to our room.

My brothers Temžărhen and Tez’hărhej came over two days ago, and brought their families. Looking back at today’s entries I find that some of these names I have mentioned might be rather mind-boggling, so I have decided to introduce my brothers’ families in another journal entry.

Whoa, that’s a lot of journal today, but you must remember that I have tried to catch up with what’s been happening in the last five days. I have always though that I could maintain this journal every day, but sometimes there are events that will prevent me from updating it once a day.

Right now Jhalhemha is taking nourishment from my chamber teat, while Rhalhea and I area watching the wallscreen. There is an Alharhanian on there who is part of an interview about acting. He says Tereskàdians would make lousy actors because they can show only their true emotions. Well, of course we do. If we should show anything but our true emotions we would be lying, and everyone knows that Tereskàdians cannot tell a lie, either verbally or emotionally.

N’hoŵ. 21.98/Day 217

Another five days has gone by since I wrote something, so I think it’s time I brought everyone up to date.

Even though Sen Mharen tried to convince me to keep my job I decided to quit. I was losing interest in my position rapidly, so I thought it would be no use to try to force myself to stay. Sen Mharen told me that a position might be available sometimes after the Fall Break, but that won’t occur for another month.

So, as of this moment, I am home. Rhalhea wants me to start writing the sequel to my autobiography, but the mood has not whacked me in the head. I am still trying to write a decent poem, but so far the endeavor has eluded me. I don’t think it’s because I am a Tereskàdian that I cannot fashion a reasonable poem together, but because I have not studied the various types of poetry more closely.

Rhalhea has found part-time work not far from here. Within walking distance on Brežendra Road, there lives a young female Alharhanian whose mate has left her alone with a couple of boisterous male children. She has tried to juggle her home and work schedule so that the boys get to see her at least part of the time, but it was just getting too frustrating. So three days ago she came to Khe’ăr’s house and said she had heard that Rhalhea was looking for a job. Well, needless to say, my mate jumped at the chance, and she now she watches the two youngsters every afternoon while their mother goes to work in Central Treskebhar.

The last five days have been a mish-mash of all different kinds of weather that you can think of. Cold and rainy, warm and sunny, sunny and rainy, cold and sunny. In the northern part of the country snowflakes have made an appearance, although they did not remain for long. Of course Tereskàdians like me don’t mind at all that the weather is getting colder, and that winter will be her soon, but you would not believe all the bitching that Alharhanian do about the weather. I guess it’s because now they have the hard task of putting clothes on, something we Tereskàdians don’t have to worry about.

Looking back at the last entry, I noticed the names of my brothers, Temžărhen and Tez’hărhej, and I wrote that I would write something about their families in another entry. Temžărhen is five years younger than me, and Tez’hărhej is five years younger than Temžărhen. (Oh, in case I didn’t mention it, Tereskàdian siblings are always five years apart, and they are always the same sex.) Temžărhen is bloodbonded with a female named Brhenha, while Tez’hărhej has chosen her sister Jedrha as a mate. Temžărhen and Brhenha have two cubs, and Tez’hărhej and Jedrha have one cub. All of them are male, which of course means that the whistling dragons are female.

My first brother lives in a small town called Frešherod, which is about an hour’s drive south of Treskebhar by hovercar. I have not visited him and his family since he moved there, which makes me feel rather bad, because he has visited Rhalhea and me and the cubs up here in North Treskebhar on numerous occasions. Sure, we could communicate via our whistling dragons, but that’s not the same thing. So I have made myself a promise that one of these days – well, soon – my family and I will pay him a visit. Besides, it will do us good to get out of Treskebhar.

My second brother has taken up residence in one of Thyros Mharen’s apartment buildings in South Treskebhar. Sen Mharen, in one of his generous building moods, erected ten twenty-five story apartment buildings in various locations throughout Treskebhar. Tez’hărhej and his family occupy the top floor of the building, which suits their whistling dragons just fine, because there is a huge balcony where they can take off and land.

I have to tell you about something called echosing. Echosing is most likely practiced by cultures on other worlds, but here, on the worlds of Alharhan and Tereskàdhar, Tereskàdians have brought it to such a fine art that the Encyclopedia Orovha recognizes us as the inventors of this musical form. Simply put, it is a phrase sung by someone on stage, usually la-la-la or na-na-na, and that phrase is repeated by the audience.

Oh, what’s so special about that? you say. It’s been done before. Here, let me set the stage for you: Yesterday, on the evening of the first full free day of the double week, my family and the Dhoren family attended the concert at the Treskebhar Stadium. This huge concert hall/sports arena/meeting place/you-name-it-they-do-it-there holds half a million Alharhanians and Tereskàdians and whistling dragons. Well, on that night, the stadium was absolutelyu packed, because the most popular singing group in Te’hănys – and maybe even the whole planet – was performing, complete with orchestra and back-up singers. We sat through song after song after song, and we enjoyed every moment of it. We got into the act by clapping, and stomping our feet, and singing along with the refrains, and we had a really good time.

At one point the lead singer raised his hands for silence, and after we had all quieted down, he asked if there were any Tereskàdians in the audience. Of course we Tereskàdians raised our paws, wondering what he had in mind.

So he picked out two Tereskàdians – one male, one female – and told them to come up on stage. He talked with them briefly, then stepped back and gave the stage to the Tereskàdians. I think they were a bit nervous seeing so many in the audience, because the female’s tail began to dip down between her legs, and they both began to fearshiver. It took the lead singer a few moments to calm them down.

Of course I knew they were going to do an echosing performance. The moment I heard the first na-na-na-nanana-na I knew where they were going. It was a well-known piece that was also one of the longest pieces in the echosing repertoire. When the male Tereskàdian raised his paw, all the males in the audience repeated the phrase he had just sung; when the female raised her paw, all the females repeated the phrase; when both raised their paws, the entire audience repeated the phrase. Sometimes the male sang the phrase, then raised the paw, so the males could repeat, then the female raised her paw, so the males could immediately repeat the same phrase. Other embellishments included the Tereskàdians on the stage running a phrase up the scale, then raising their paws downward, indicating to the audience that the echo should be sung down the scale. Or the male would have all the male members in the audience repeat a simple phrase over and over, while the female members of the audience sang a lilting melody over the bass line. Now of course you must remember that when I say ‘sang’ the entire echosing concert consisted of the phrase ‘na-na-na’ and echoes in the same vein by the audience.

Needless to say, the echosing concert left us breathless and satisfied, and in a generally happy mood. When it was over, the audience stood as one, and applauded the two Tereskàdians, who seemed to be rather embarassed, as if they wanted to be anywhere but in front of half a million spectators. It seemed that no one wanted to leave, and w stayed long after all the cubs had fallen asleep. I carried Jhorhea, and Rhalhea carried Rheža, while the Dhorens carried the younger twins. Nykha and T’heril walked by themselves. But I could see they were very tired.

I think I’m going to stop right here, because Jhorhea wants me to help her with her homework. I told her she should have done it when she came home in the afternoon two days ago, but she wanted to go out and playe with her friends, so I let it go.

Tomorrow is a school day again, so she doesn’t have much choice but to complete her homework.

N’hoŵ. 26.98/Day 222

When I was still working in the capacity of Chief Tereskàdianologist Consultant at the university, a student came to my office and asked me if Tereskàdians engaged in sexual intercourse after the female had given birth to three cubs which is, of course, the limit.

The question took me somewhat by surprise because I had never thought about it. I thought everyone knew that Tereskàdians engaged in sexual intercourse after the final cub is born, but apparently some Alharhanian still had much to learn. The problem, I think, lies in the fact that between ages of about fifteen to twenty-five, the female Tereskàdian experiences a rather unusual estrus cycle. When I say ‘unusual’ I don’t mean in the sense that it affects the female physically, but rather in the way that Tereskàdianologists have calculated the female’s cycles mathematically. To show you what I mean, I will use my mate Rhalhea as an example. My mate was born 125 days into the year, on the island of ‘Hănharys, on the planet Tereskàdhar. A female Tereskàdian has five cycles in the year in which she becomes fifteen years of age, and each cycle lasts three days. The first day females are receptive to males, but most likely will not mate. The second day is called the Peak Day, and during this time, the majority of Tereskàdians mate. For some unknown reason, at least none that Tereskàdianologists have been able to figure out, Tereskàdians do not mate during the female’s first cycle. Some say it is psychological, some say the female is not ready despite her estrus, but no one has yet come up with a satisfactory answer.

Rhalhea and I mated for the first time on the second day of her second cycle ten years ago, and Jhorhea was conceived. Our cub was born twenty days later. Her whistling dragon, who was conceived at the same time, was also born at the same time.

When we traveled from Tereskàdhar to Alharhan both Rhalhea and I made up our minds to have our other two cubs conceived and born on Tereskàdhar, and specifically on the island of ‘Hănharys.. So five years ago we journeyed with our whistling dragons to Tereskàdhar, where Rheža was conceived and born there twenty days later. Earlier this year, we did the same thing so that Jhalhemha would be conceived and born on the planet of our ancestors. As a matter of fact, we returned about three weeks before I started this journal.

My parents mated three times, each time on the same date, but five years apart. So my brothers and I were born five years apart, but each one of us celebrates our birthday on the same date. Rhalhea and I have done the same thing with our matings, and my three cubs celebrate their birthday on the same day, which, on Alharhan, is the 4th of Bhe’ăchyzh.

Did you know that there are numerous words for Tereskàdian sexual organs, depending on whether the term refers to the male adult or male cub, the female adult or female cub? I won’t inundate you with all the wods, beause it would be too overwhelming. But I will just briefly mention something about the male organ, which Tereskàdianologists found was the subject of another mathematical discovery. If you want to find out the size of a Tereskàdian’s penis, ask him how tall he is. The flaccid organ is 1/6 of a Tereskàdian’s height. The limit of a Tereskàdian’s height is just slightly more than six feet (for the purpose of the present journal I am translating Thekherham’s measurements into recognizable imperial measurements – JMT), so you can do the math. The erect organ is ¼ again as long as the flaccid organ. Since I am six feet tall, it is easy to see that my flaccid penis is twelve inches long, and my erect organ is fifteen inches long.

Way back in history, when the Alharhanians first discovered us, and found us interesting enough to study, they initially assumed that we were all females because males did not show their genitalia, since the entire sexual organs (penis and scrotum) were housed in a special chamber called the ternharhaclhoch (adult) or thamharhalhoch (cub).

Well, when you really think about it, it only makes sense to protect the male genitalia against the bitter cold of a Tereskàdian winter. I mean, we would not want a vital orgaln like that to fall off now, would we? So the one way to tell males and females apart is not by looking at a Tereskàdianologists crotch, but rather at the ears. Male Tereskàdians have fine hairs running around the perimeter of the ears, the hairs at the apex being a little longer.

One thing I should mention here is that when we groom ourselves, our whistling dragons help us with the hard-to-reach places. A female whistling dragon uses her tongue to not only clean a male’s organ, but also to coat it with a special saliva. The male can then keep his organ out longer, even in very cold weather. Of course here on Alharhan, when the weather is warm, this does not really need to be done, but the tradition that has been established is continued, and Kykherhenha is no exception.

The first time she did it in the Dhoren home both sets of twins wanted to know what was going on so I had to explain because Lheana had no intention of explaining anything, and even Khe’ăr didn’t know how to proceed.

Since whistling dragons do not have external ears it is hard to tell Kykherhenha and Keridhar apart unless they are standing side by side. Kykherhenha is a bit smaller than her mate, but not much. Keridhar has a chamber for his genitals which comes in rather handy when he is flying, because his organ is understandably very large. (I should mention here that the formula used to measure a whistling dragon’s penis is not the same as for a Tereskàdian. Relax, relax, I won’t deluge you with any more numbers. At least not today.)

Kykherhenha wants to know why I have put so much detail into this entry. Because even I find it fascinating, I tell her, and I’m a Tereskàdian.

But enough about Tereskàdian sexuality. I was just looking at the calendar, and I noticed that it is the last day of the month. One more month of school, and then a month off. I’m sure that all the Dhoren children and my two cubs are looking forward to twenty-five days of no school.

Jhalhemha is in my chamber for the second of five days, and I have noticed that she is much more gentle when taking the teat. When I told Kykherhenha about it, she said that she and Keridhar have communicated with Besalhen who in turn has given the message to his Tereskàdian. Now it seems as if she is being a little too careful. Hey, I don’t mind a good solid tug when she is nursing, but this is going a bit too far the other way.

I will have Beshalhen relay the message to Jhalhemha, Kykherhenha says.

A moment later, Jhalhemha’s pull on my teat is a little firmer. I sit on the couch in the living room of an empty house, looking at my belly. The chamber is closed, and I can feel Jhalhemha nursing vigorously. In about thirteen months, the inevitable will happen, and Jhalhemha will emerge from the chamber. Right now, when I think about it, I don’t even know if I want to go through what every Tereskàdian parent goes through, but what must be, must be, and for fifteen Alharhanian months Jhalhemha will engage in antics that every one-year-old is born to do. I won’t go into details, but suffice it to say the chest teats of both parents will be available, as well as the chamber teat. The chamber is still ready to receive the cub if she wants to sleep there... Oh, you get the picture. One year... fifteen months.... and then the cub is out of the chamber permanently. And then the outside world will become her world.

Kykherhenha tells me that she and Keridhar won’t mind if Beshalhen scoots in and out of the chambers whenever he pleases. You must remember – and yes, I do, Kykherhenha – that our chamber teats and our external teats are the exclusive property of the cub.

You know, you would think when you have had two other cubs who have gone through the same thing, it would be a lot easier to handle a third one, but then it seems as if it begins anew every time.

Jhalhemha has stopped nursing. I open the chamber, peek inside. She has fallen asleep, just as I thought. I get up and walk to the door, open it. The fresh smell of Te’hănys Bay assails my nostrils, tempting me to go down to the shore. I turn up my hearing and listen to the myriad sounds of seabirds. There are about half a dozen whistling dragons in the air; Kykherhenha has seen them, too, but she remains on the ground beside me.

You should stretch your wings, I suggest.

She unfurls her black, velvety wings, unlocking them from her auburn fur, and beats them vigorously. She rises gracefully into the air, hovers in front of me, the two teats near her genital region very prominent. Take the left one, she sends. So I stand there, one hind paw in the water, nursing on the only liquid a Tereskàdian can drink.

N’hoŵ. 28.98/Day 224

A new month has just begun, the ninth of the year. The weather during the past five days has been rain, rain, and more rain. I didn’t even want to go outside becaue the rain was rather heavy at times, and I knew my fur would look a mess if I ventured outside for even a brief time.

Kykherhenha wanted to fly, but she couldn’t do that because I refused to go outside until the rain had vanished, or at least abated somewhat. So we stayed inside, and watched the wallscreen, and played games. At one point she asked me if I was bored. I had never thought of that so I didn’t know how to reply. Was I bored? Perhaps, perhaps not. I guess it depended on my definition of boredom.

Rhalhea has Jhalhemha in her chamber for the second of five days. My mate is home for the next two weeks, because the family she works for has gone to Chendhar Bay, a resort area on the other side of the continent. Lheana told me that Chendhar Bay is the biggest tourist attraction on the planet, and I said I thought Te’hănys had everything. We don’t have everything, she said, in a tone that suggested I should have known this.

Yesterday, on the station that carries the political news and comments, one of the members of the Presidential Assembly stood up and made a proposal that made me prick up my ears and listen because it was something about the Tereskàdians. I called Rhalhea from the kitchen, and she came running, wondering what had happened. I just told her to listen, and she sat down beside me.

The advocate of the proposal stated that whistling dragons should not be allowed to fly because of the inherent danger to jetliners and to Alharhanians in the vicinity of these whistling dragons. I don’t know what he was getting at, but from the looks that President Lhanech Ten Arbhonhal and other members of the Assembly gave him, I could tell they weren’t too pleases with his proposal.

Still he plowed on, trying to justify his presentation. Rhalhea and I had to laugh when he said that with all the whistling dragons flying in the air, there is a danger to the waste products being deposited in public places where the unsuspecting public might step on them. And what about the whistling dragons who do their business while they’re in the air, he continued. At this point, President Ten Arbhonhal interjected, and asked him if he knew of an incident, just one incident, where this has happened. The Alharhanian had to admit that he knew of no such incident, but added quickly there was always a first time, especially if the whistling dragon was a cub.

How utterly stupid, I thought, and Kykherhenha agreed with me. There was no way on this planet, or any other, that whistling dragons ever would, or even could, urinate and defecate while in flight. They are very fastidious creatures, and when they relieve themselves they do it on the ground, and certainly not in public places. One place where they do it is in farm areas, where there waste products are highly prized as fertilizer.

The motion the Alharhanian politician put forth was soundly defeated. He took the result of the vote in stride, but stood up immediately after, and proposed that whistling dragons should not be allowed to fly anywhere near the spaceport or the airports (Te’hănys has one spaceport and numerous airports of various sizes) since at any given time, jetliners are taking off and landing, and at the spaceport, shuttles are taking off to join the huge mothership orbiting the planet.

I had to admit that he did have a point. I had no idea how they were going to make three choices out of his proposal, but I knew the government would find a way.

I have never flown near the airports, Kykherhenha said, and I never will. She sounded rather defensive, as if the politician were addressing her directly.

The three proposals they put forth near the end of the day were as follows:

Proposal 1: No whistling dragons will be allowed to fly near any of the airports and the spaceport under any circumstances.

Proposal 2: Whistling dragon will be allowed to fly near the airports and the spaceport only if there are no jetliners taking off or landing, and shuttles are not active at the spaceport.

Proposal 3: The first two proposals should be voided, and whistling dragons could fly when where they wished, including near the airports and the spaceport.

Rhalhea and I looked at each other, and we were both thinking of the cubs, especially Jhorhea and Rheža. Of course we weren’t thinking that Khedrhokhazh and S’horžăm would deliberately fly near the airports or the spaceport, since the nearest airport is ten minutes drive by hovercar, and the spaceport, which is further east, just off Brežendra Road, about a quarter of an hour from Khe’ăr’s home, but I did not want to take any chances that somewhere, sometime in the future, one of the younger whistling dragons would get hurt. I wasn’t thinking so much of Khedrhokhazh as S’horžăm who was improving each time he took to the air. Like all male whistling dragon cubs who had just learned to fly he tended to go further than Rheža wanted him to. He thought that by showing Rheža what he saw he would be safe, but on one occasion Rheža tole me that she saw Bhortuyn Falls. I told her to call S’horžăm back immediately. Kykherhenha said she and Keridhar would have a long talk with their son. I hope they talked some sense into him; being that far apart from his Tereskàdian could be extremely dangerous. I’m not saying that Rheža would drop dead immediately, but any prologned separation between a Tereskàdian and her whistling dragon could have disastrous consequences.

There is another echosing concert coming up in the middle of the month, and the organizers have asked me and Rhalhea to lead the event. It would once again be held at the Treskebhar Stadium, and one again they are hoping htat half a million citizens of Te’hănys and other nearby towns will attend. I told the organizers that Rhalhea and I would have to think about it. They said since all Tereskàdians were such good singers... no, vocalists, is the way they put it, it would be an honor to have Rhalhea and me, and our whistling dragons, as the featured echosingers.

Both sets of twins, and my two school-age cubs are counting down the days until vacation next month. Since the beginning of the month T’heril has been chanting ‘Only thirty more days to go’, ‘Only twenty-nine more days to go’, ‘Only twenty-eight more days to go’... I don’t know if I can bear the thought of six children and cubs, and two young whistling dragons in this house for one whole month.

And there are ‘Only twenty-five more days to go.’

Trelhachyzh 5.98/Day 229

Last night I dreamed of death, specifically the death of my parents at the hands of the Alharhanian who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Tereskàdians - Jhar Morněl. I was curled up in a ball, my tail covering my head, my eyes closed, but the dream seemed so real I started to fearshiver. Kykherhenha knew exactly what was happening because she shared my dream. That was something I did not wish her to experience, but we were so closely linked that our thoughts and our dreams were forever entwined. She usually dreamed of flying, and I dreamed of flying, and it felt so real when I looked down and saw the forest and the grassland below, the rivers winding their way through the island of ‘Hănharys... One thing I have noticed is that in her dreams she is always on ‘Hănharys, never on Alharhan, and never in Treskebhar. And her dreams are always of the past, before the destruction caused by Jhar Morněl, before the deaths of our parents.

What do I share with her when I dream? Death and destruction. So much death and destruction. When I see K’hŏrlys, my father, clutching his belly where a knife has just been driven in, when I see Khedharhij, his whistling dragon, on the ground, trying to stay alive, I wish I could go back to a time before it all happened and warn him, tell him that death was imminent, and we should leave. When I see Rhan’hă, my mother, standing before this mass murderer, while he prepares to rape her, and my brothers and I, hidden behind a large rock, wondering why she is just standing there, not understanding what is happening. When he is finished with her, he shows her this huge knife, with a long blade and a black handle. And somehow even then I knew what he was going to do. And Mama’s whistling dragon – Vythalham – would die because they were eternally linked.

Kykherhenha pushes me roughly with her muzzle. She wants me to stop dreaming, and the only way I can stop is to wake up. So I move my tail, and open my eyes. I look into her pupil-less eyes, and they are a shade of red and light green. She is angry with me, and at the same time, frightened, because of my dream. But what can I do? I don’t plan my dreams; if a dream decides to haunt me, then it will haunt me, sometimes just once, sometimes, as in the case of my parents’ deaths, very often.

It is morning, the eighth of Trelhachyzh. The weather is cold, but sunny. It has not rained here for the last two days, although the northern part of Te’hănys has seen a light snowfall. Nothing major yet, but just nature’s way of telling the country that winter will come eventually, and to be ready for it.

Rhalhea and Keridhar are still asleep, and I do not intend to wake them. So Kykherhenha and I make our way to the dining room which is strangely empty. I look at the clock, and realize that I must have slept in, because both sets of twins, and my two cubs, have left for school some time ago. Khe’ăr has gone to his job at the Department of Immigration, but Lheana is not here, which means she has either gone somewhere, or has gone back to bed, which she sometimes does, after making sure all the children and cubs are ready for school.

Even though I try to think of something else my mind insists on reliving my mother’s vicious rape and death. You have to stop thinking about that, Kykherhenha urges. I think of happier times, when I was still getting nourishment from my parents’ teats, and my world was the village almost in the center of ‘Hănharys – Mountain Village, with its clear blue lake, not far from my village, hidden amond tall, leafy trees, and the canyon, deep and narrow, with a river far below, twisting and turning like a think waving ribbon...

But this is the past, that is what was, and this is now. You cannot go back and change the past, becaue it is forever etched in history. I don’t know if I want to go back to the past. When I was four years old I was sexually abused by an Alharhanian female named Anhaverha, or Queen Anhaverha, as she called herself. She was the first Alharhanian I killed, because she attacked me, and that is all one has to do to a Tereskàdian in order for him to defend himself.

I have read stories by Alharhanian authors in which time travel plays an integral part, and I have often wondered what it would be like to travel back and prevent the deaths of my parents and their whistling dragons, to avoid Anhaverha so she could not abuse me, to travel back far enough, before the Alharhanians discovered space travel and came to our planet.

What would that mean for Krysa Rhona’s book? She is the one I should blame for the deaths of my parents, because she wrote a book called ‘The Ap’hăkharys’, a book of prophecies that covered the years when Krysa Rhona lived about a thousand years ago to the year 5700, which is less than two years away. The remarkable thing about this book is that all of her predictions have, so far, come true, but what is evern more remarkable is that, despite the clear meanings of her predictions, only Jhar Morněl decided to do something about a prediction that stated he would be killed at the hands – I mean, paws – of a Tereskàdian.

I have read ‘The Ap’hăkharys’, and it is a remarkable book, written by a young woman who acquired her gift when she fell into a well at the age of twelve, and, after being rescued, lay in a coma for several weeks before she woke up and changed not only one but two planets. Here are some predictions that Krysa made during her short lifetime: The discovery of an alien species on the fourth planet from Orovha (the Tereskàdians), space travel, hovercars, videophones... Even Jackson Markham Tyler is forever ingrained in the pages of Krysa’s book.

When the pioneer Tereskàdianologists first studied the Tereskàdians they discovered that Tereskàdians were... well, depending on your point of view you might say blessed, or you might say cursed, with something that has been termed ‘Emotional Disassociation.’ Basically what this means is that a Tereskàdian cannot attack someone, no matter how he is insulted or ridiculed. So if an Alharhanian decides to call me names he can do so until Orovha falls from the sky, and it would not bother me. It is only when I am physically attacked that I will defend myself, and when I defend myself I use my claws. The Alharhanians who have attacked me – and there have been quite a lot of those – have all met the same fate. Sometimes I think all their gravestones should read: Killed by a Tereskàdian because of Stupidity.

Rhalhea and Keridhar are up now, and my mate is looking for something to eat. There is plenty of meat in the cold box, and Rhalhea suggests we should take some out and thaw it. I’m not hungry, really; I think the dream has curbed my appetite, but I don’t mention it to Rhalhea. I don’t really have to because Kykherhenha communicates with her mate, and Keridhar passes the information on to his Tereskàdian.

Kykherhenha offers her teats, and I drink. I try to clear my mind, but it isn’t easy. There is so much more I want to tell, but I do not want to say it all in one journal entry.

Trel. 8.98/Day 232

It has been seven days since I last wrote something. So I guess the best thing to do is review what has been happening these last few days. Even though we are well into fall the weather here has been rather warm, with onlyh one day of really heavy rain, and that was three days ago. Rheža keeps asking me when the snow is going get here, and I have to tell her I don’t know, that it will come whenever it decides to come. Lheana assures me that the snow, if it doesn’t come soon, will show up next month.

T’horhachyzh is vacation month; T’heril keeps reminding me of that. Just this morning he announced to anyone who would listen that there are only fifteen more days until the end of the month.

Khe’ăr is in a foul mood, because T’henhar has given him a desk jopb at the Department of Immigration. All I do, he protests, is read the forms that Alharhanians from other countries fill out, and file them. I could tell that he was bored with the whole procedure. I don’t really blame him, though, because he had been a field agent – i.e. special investigator – for about ten years.

Lheana has found this interestiong hobby which we first heard about when we journeyed down the Treskebhar River on a riverboat eight years ago. It seems there was this Alharhanian female who made sweaters and pullovers out of Tereskàdian fur. Here I am, a Tereskàdian, and I didn’t even know that you could make clothes out of our fur. She showed us some of her handiwork, and if I remember right, I remarked that they were all aubun. She told us that she tried dyeing them, but the colors ran, making the product worthless. She said she hoped that the singular color wouldn’t stop Alharhanians from buying clothes made with Tereskàdian fur.

When we got back home, that particular incident kind of slipped everyone’s mind as we thought of school and work and other things. But I think Lheana brought it up again just a few days ago when she saw a news report about this very same female whom we visited eight years ago. It seems that her business is modestly successful, with many customers wanting to buy her products. Of course there are those Alharhanians who say they would never touch anything made from Tereskàdian fur, but that is their prerogative.

Both Rhalhea and I have contributed our fur by letting Lheana brush our coats. Now that fall is here, and winter is riding in from the distance, we won’t shed as much, but it Lheana is patient, by the time spring arrives she should be getting plenty of our fur. She bought a special brush, and something that will spin our fur into yarn, but so far she has not done anything with them.

The two sets of twins are looking forward to the vacation month, but until then, they, and my two cubs, are going to school. Nykha and T’heril are taking subjects that are becoming hardera nd harder as they further and further into their education. They both bring home a lot of homework, and Lheana has to remind them to start their homework before dinner, so they can get it done after dinner. Sometimes they just manage to get their homework done in time to get ready for bed. Arhen and Fhenha, who, at eight, are half the older twins’ age, have homework maybe twice a week, and it is so eacy I don’t know why they keep asking me or Rhalhea for help. Lheana has told us not to help them, or they won’t learn anything, but sometimes you fall for their stalling tactics, especially when it is close to bedtime.

According to her teacher, Jhorhea is a very good student, learning as she should, answering questions in class. She has a fair number of friends, although there are still some students that resent her presence in class, only because she is a Tereskàdian. Even though the term ‘animal’ when applied to us is not to be used anywhere on university grounds, there are still those who use it freely, and one they use it, it spreads, and then it is hard to suppress.

Rheža thinks school is fun, but then she thinks everything is fun. She likes going to school, but she also likes being at home, watching S’horžăm fly. She is so excited now that she can see through S’horžăm’s eyes, and she takes every opportunirty to tell us what she ‘sees.’ Look, Papa, there is an island. Look, Papa, I see naked Alharhanians. That last remark had me somewhat puzzled. Don’t tell me some brave Alharhanians are out there, walking around in the nude, when the weather is turning colder.

Kykerhenha has just offered her teats, and I take a brief drink. She wants to know when I’m going outside, and I tell her maybe later. She tells me she wants to go down to the water to catch some fish, but I think she just wants to stretch her wings, and get a bit of exercise. I don't blame her, really. Living ina city that caters to your every need tends to make you lazy, and, being a Tereskàdian, I don’t want to get into that habit.

Rhalhea is still looking after the two male Alharhanians while their mother is at work. She says they are a pawful, but she doesn’t mind. Besides, each week their mother gives Rhalhea two hundred L’hŏr which my mate has saved up. I don’t know what she is going to do with the money, but that is her decision. Right now, she is making more than me, because Thekherham does not have a job.

What about me? Well, ever since I quit my job at the university, I have been spending time at home, watching programs on the wallscreen, and taking long walks along the beach with Kykherhenha. My whistling dragon spends quite a bit of time in the sky, showing me what she is seeing, but these are sights I have seen many times, and they do not really interest me.

I have made a few notes regarding the sequel to my autobiography, and when I say ‘a few notes’ that’s exactly what I mean. Right now, I am in no mood to work on anything except this journal; maybe when I have finally put the finishing touches on it, I will go back to the sequel.

Ten days agao I mentioned this proposal that an Alharhanian politician had brought up concerning the whistling dragons. Actually, he brought up two proposals, but the one about the possibility that whistling dragons might urinate and defectate while in the air was quickly squashed by President Ten Arbhonal. The second proposal concerned the whistling dragons flying too close to the airports and the spaceport, especially when jetliners are taking off and landing, and shuttles were lifting off to fly up to the mothership circling Alharhan.

Here are the three proposals once again:

Proposal 1: No whistling dragons will be allowed to fly near any of the airports and the spaceport under any circumstances.

Proposal 2: Whistling dragon will be allowed to fly near the airports and the spaceport only if there are no jetliners taking off or landing, and shuttles are not active at the spaceport.

Proposal 3: The first two proposals should be voided, and whistling dragons could fly when where they wished, including near the airports and the spaceport.

And here are the votes: The first proposal received 16% of the vote, the second 48%, and the third, 36%. I think the reason the third proposal received such a high vote was the anti-Tereskàdian faction. They read into it that if a whistling dragon were to fly near the airports or the spaceport without restrictions then something might happen to them, and whatever happens to a whistling dragons, happens to his or her Tereskàdian.

Since the second proposal was the one that the majority chose, the whistling dragons would have to respect the law, and stay away from the airports and the spaceport. I talked with my brothers via our whistling dragons about the proposal, and they told me their whistling dragons would not even go near the airports and the spaceport. I told them Kykherhenha had told me the same thing.

The echosing concert Rhalhea and I were supposed to lead today has been postponed. The organizers have told us that it would go ahead most likely on the 21st or the 22nd. That was just fine with me, because I had no idea what we were going to do. Sure, there was a huge repertoire of echosing music, but Tereskàdians who have been invited to participate are expected to come up with their own style of echosing. That means Rhalhea and I have six or seven days to prepare.

I am looking forward to it, but at the same time, I am a bit apprehensive. It’s not the preparation that worries me, it’s the presentation. Half a million Alharhanians, Tereskàdians, and whistling dragons will be watching us, and I just know I’ll be fearshivering, and my tail will announce to everyone exactly how afraid I am.

Trel. 15.98/Day 239

It seems that my journal entries are getting to be few and far between. Thirteen days since my last entry, and I really have no excuse. I am at home most of the day, spending time in my room while the cubs, and Khe’ăr and Lheana’s two sets of twins are at school. Khe’ăr is getting used to his new rold at the Department of Immigration, but his status has diminished somewhat. Every day he complains that he was not born to sit behind a desk, that he would rather be out in the field again, but Lheana calms him down by reminding him of his heart condition.

Lheana is really the only who remains at home. She is busy knitting sweaters made from Tereskàdian fur – my fur, and Rhalhea’s fur. She says she is till an amateur compare to the Alharhanian we met eight years ago, but I wouldn’t say that. Even though all the sweaters are auburn, and she hasn’t knitted that many, some Alharhanians who live nearby have put in orders.

The echosing concert was held at Treskebhar Stadium on the 22nd, and there must have been almost half a million Alharhanians, Tereskàdians, and whistling dragons in attendance. Rhalhea and I had a small argument about the type of program we were going to present, but we finally settled on several pieces, all but the last one fairly short. The last one was a major work. So on the evening of the 22nd the Dhoren family, and many friends and neighbors, took several buses to the stadium. I was looking forward to it, and so was Kykherhenha. She was practicing her melodies, whistling and trilling so loud on the bus that I told her she should save her voice for the concert. Keridhar seemed to take in all in stride, as if he had done it all before.

When you are sitting in the audience you see the Alharhanians all aournd you, and you don’t think much about it, because you are a part of them, part of the spectators who have come to be entertained. But when you are standing on the huge stage, you are the ficus, the center of attention, and there is nowhere to hide. They expect you to perform, and you have to come through.

Both Rhalhea and I had preened ourselves until we felt we could present ourselves to the half million who would be watching us. Kykherhenha offered to clean my organ, and spread her saliva on it, but I told her that wouldn’t be necessary, and she could do it another day.

Not only would this conert be shown to the half million spectators in the arena, but another ten to fifteen million would be watching at home, on their wallscreens.

I felt that we didn’t have much success with the first few numbers. They were short and forgettable, and the audience seemed reluctant to join in. Every time Rhalhea and I both raised our paws, indicating that the entire audience should repeat the phrase, only a few sections joined in. It was much better when Rhalhea raised her paw to tell all of the females to repeat the phrase she sang, but the males told me, in their own way, that they had no intentioin of repeating my phrases. And to top it all off, Rhalhea and I had agreed to use Na Na Na, but several times she used La La La. I told her we should stick to one phrase, sending a message to her via Kykherhenha which she received through Keridhar. She just looked at me, and her ears wavered, telling me that she was on the verge of anger. Well, I thought, at least her tailtip hasn’t flicked yet.

We pinned our hopes on the last number, a long piece that began slowly and majestically. When Rhalhea and I began to sing the first seven notes: Na Na Na Na-Na-Na Na, everyone in the audience, sensing that this would be a major part of the concert, repeated the phrase. Rhalhea and I sang that phrase again, but this time only Rhalhea held up her paw, indicating that the females only should repeat it. She had them hold the last note with a slow, horizontal sweep of her paw, and I indicated to the males that I wanted them to repeat the phrase. After that, everything seemed to just flow so smoothly that time flashed by like a lightning bolt. We shifted from slow to fast, and the audience kept up with us, and I could tell they were really enjoying themselves.

When it was all over they gave us a standing ovation. We bowed so many times I lost count, but I didn’t really care. Rhalhea and I finally got our contribution to the echosing culture out of the way. I was asking myself if I would every want to perform on stage permanently, but Kykherhenha told me she wanted no part of it. She and Keridhar had solo parts in the final number, and I could tell she was enjoying the adulation.

Later, when we were home, Lheana asked me how we liked being on stage. Once is enough, Rhalhea said. And that was it. We would not be participating in any more echosing concerts, at least not on stage. Which meant, of course, that we were back to being just plain, ordinary Tereskàdians.

I haven’t talked too much about the weather because there is nothing much to talk about. It is autumn, and the weather is very changeable. We have had sunny and rainy days, and one day there was a significant amount of snowfall, but that did not stay. When Rheža saw the snow, she was really excited, but that excitement changed to disappointment when the snow disappeared almost right before her eyes.

T’heril is telling everyone that there are only three more days of school left. He complains that for the whole month of T’horhachyzh it will probably snow every day, and there will be storms, and all the roads will be icy. I told him he can’t know for sure what the weather will be like, and he just looked at me as if couldn’t possibly be any other way.

Trel. 27.98/Day 252

Today is the twelfth day of T’horhachyzh, and the month-long school vacation is half over. T’heril was only half-right about the weather; it did snow for the first five days of this month, but then it was washed away by rain that hung around for two days. On the eighth it finally cleared up, and even though the temperature is barely above the freezing mark, it has remained sunny for the last five days.

Jhalhemha is in my chamber again. Today is the third of the five days I have her, and so far, she taken the chamber teat rather gently. There was that first day, or rather, the first night, when I was curled up, asleep, and she suddenly yanked on the teat, effectively waking me up for the rest of the night.

She is four months old now, and it will be another eleven months before she ventures out of the chamber for the first time. Just the other day a female Alharhanian at the Albrhaj-Thoŵhazh Shopping Center asked me why, if Tereskàdians can communicate with each other telepathically via their whistling dragons, they do not communicate with a cub in the chamber. I told her the process of telepathic communication wasn’t as simple as it sounds. Even though Jhalhemha can communicate with her whistling dragon, Beshalhen, she has no concept of any other entity, any other being. To her, my chamber, or Rhalhea’s chamber, is her entire world, and the one ‘sound’, if I may call it that, which she senses in her head, are the thoughts of her whistling dragon whom she will not see until she emerges from the chamber after one year. Beshalhen himself is, at this moment, in his mother’s chamber. He changes chambers every five days, switching between Kykherhenha and Keridhar, just like Jhalhemha alternates every five days.

Jhorhea is spending her vacation visiting friends, and grooming herself a lot. She is at that age when childish play is no longer an option, but still five years away from ther first estrus cycle. She does not even have a future mate yet, but there is still time. Rhalhea and I met in Mountain Village, ‘Hănharys, when we were twelve yeats old.

Rheža loves to play. She will play different kinds of games, like hide-and-seek, and tag with neighborhood kids, and when those games bore her, she will invent new ones. It is nice to see that Alharhanian children accept Tereskàdian cubs so readily. They don’t see someone with auburn fur, and a long bushy tail, and a blunt muzzle housing sharp teeth, and paws with retractable claws; they don’t see an alien accompanied by an animal called a whistling dragon. All they see is a playmate, a friend to hang around with, a companion to talk to. And when Rheža drinks from S’horžăm they wait until she is done because they know she must have his milk since it is the only liquid she can drink.

The two sets of twins are enjoying this vacation, especially T’heril, who is not too fond of school. When vacation month started he told me that most of the subjects are boring, but not Tereskàdianology. He added that with a certain amount of emphasis, just to make sure I understood that the study of someone like myself was really fascinating. Nykha, on the other paw, loves school, and can’t wait to get back. She complains that vacation month is too long, and getting off three times during the year is a little too much. If she had her way she would be going to school four hundred and twenty days a year.

Arhen and Fhenha are enjoying the month off. During the first three days they were spending an awful lot of time watching the wallscreen, until Lheana told them to play in their rooms. When the snow and the rain stopped, and the sun came out, she dressed them warmly, and sent them outside. They are not going to watch silly programs, she said to me, and I agreed with her. There is a whole world out there just waiting to be explored.

I can tell just by looking at them that Khe’ăr and Lheana don’t mind the twins and my cubs at home right now, but by the end of the month they will be exhausted because the youngsters will always have been underfoot, getting into mischief, wanting this, wanting that. I know, because back in the month of F’hărnhachyzh the same thing happened. Khe’ăr retreats to the sanctuary of his office at the Department of Immigration early each day, and doesn’t come home until the evening, just in time to have dinner, watch a bit of the wallscreen, and retire for the night. You can tell that is thinking about his heart a lot, but he is not about to tell anyone that is what is uppermost on his mind.

Lheana has given up knitting sweaters for now, because the children, and the cubs, are staying up longer at night, and they are hovering around her, asking a lot of questions.

Rhalhea isn’t looking after the two Alharhanian children anymore because the mother was fired for her job on the last day of Trelhachyzh. When Rhalhea asked her why, the mother told her to get out, and leave her and her boys alone. Not wishing to argue, Rhalhea left quickly and quietly. She received her final pay three days later.

Earlier today I groomed myself thoroughly, and Kykherhenha helped me with places I find hard to reach. Khe’ăr and Lheana, and the older twins, have seen Rhalhea and me do this numeous times, but the younger twins always seem to find this fascinating. So they sit on the couch and watch me silently. I know they are eager to ask questions, but I think their mother has told them not to bother us when we are grooming ourselves.

I bring out my organ, which does not surprise them, and Kykherhenha licks it, covering the shaft with her special saliva. The twins have seen Kykherhenha do this before, but each time they ask me why she does it. I tell them I have answered them before, and I don’t feel like answering each time my whistling dragon grooms my organ. Why don’t I do it myself? Because I don’t have Kykherhenha's special saliva.

When Kykherhenha cleans my organ, and covers it with her saliva, of course I get an erection. And once I achieve this erection it remains like this for quite some time. The first time this happened in Khe’ăr’s home, I could tell that Lheana didn’t like it, but she realized it is part of a male Tereskàdian’s life. I think her children took it better than she did. Many weeks passed before she finally accepted this part of my grooming, but I could tell that acceptance was rather reluctant. Even now, when Kykherhenha grooms my penis, she arches her eyebrows, raises her eyes heavenward, and lets out a tiny sigh that no one is supposed to hear, but of course Kykherhenha and I do.

So even though Kykherhenha has coated my penis with her saliva some time ago, and is now lying beside the small table in front of the couch my organ is still very much erect, and I have to leave it that way until my erection decides to subside. Rhalhea, who has just walked into the living room, looks at it, asks me via our whistling dragons if I want to have sexual intercourse. She usually asks me that each time she sees my erection, usually in jest, although today it seems as if she really means it.

Would you be surprised if I were to tell you that the Albrhaj-T’hoŵhazh Shopping Center is the largest shopping center in the city of Treskebhar? It is the largest shopping center in the country of Te’hănys, and the entire planet of Alharhan. Of course you would not be surprised. Te’hănys is, after all, a country of superlatives.

I am not much for going to places occupied by hordes of Alharhanians. Rhalhea was there a couple of months ago, and she had a bad experience with some juvenile-brained Alharhanians who got their kicks out of bothering her. She told me it was an exceptional case,a nd persuaded me to go down there... just to see. I told her there wasn’t anything I wanted, but when she mentioned this store that sold nothing but meat, and even catered to Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons, I was persuaded to at least check it out.

Kykherhenha and I took a private bus to the shopping center. Even though I have lived I this city for almost ten years I was here only once, when T’henhar ‘Hărlen sends all the cubs that journeyed from Tereskàdhar to Alharhan with me to hopefully good times. From what I know of this huge complex it is larger than the Univesity of Treskebhar. It is absolutely huge, and I am using ‘huge’ because I can’t think of another word that means ‘bigger than the University of Treskebhar. According to the pamphlet you get when you enter the Center, there are 13,750 stores in here, ranging from clothing stores to food stores, and everything inbetween.

Of course when you are a Tereskàdian you turn down your hearing, so the loudness of the place turns into a low rumble which is something you can at least tolerate.

So there we were, Kykherhenha and I, just inside the entrance, looking around, trying to get oriented. I could see Alharhanians staring at us, which I couldn’t really understand. You would think after all these years Alharhanians would be used to us by now, but I guess we are still so very fascinating to them.

I smell meat, Kykherhenha sends, and I told her I did, too. So we headed for this place called Abrhadel and Sons Finest Meats. They offered roast and steak and sausages and sliced meats and so much more. I am slobbering just thinking about it. (Apologies. I am a carnivore.) Lheana had given us fifty L’hŏr to spend, and she told us to spend it wisely, whatever that means.

The Alharhanian I spoke with was one of Abrhadel’s sons. (I learned that the elder Abrhadel has three of them, and they are all involved in the business.) He was friendly enough, but I thought a little bit aloof, as if it were his duty to look after this Tereskàdian and his whistling dragon, a duty he didn’t much relish. He asked me if I had anything in mind, so I told him Kykherhenha and I would like to try one of the roasts. He wanted to know what kind, and I had to think of the farm animals they had in this country. I know all about Tereskàdian herbivores, but my knowledge of Alharhanian meat animals left a lot to be desired, because when Lheana serves dinner, we just take our meals for granted.

The son of Abrhadel (he never did give his name) recommend the ochăbveŵech roast, but when he told me the price, my tail dropped. My fifty L’hŏr would have been just enough to feed me, and Kykherhenha would have been left out in the cold, as it were. I told him thank you, we were just looking. What are you doing, Kykherhenha wanted to know, and I told her I wasn’t going to spend all my money for a couple of bites of meat.

There was another meat store in another area of the Center where I did buy a whole lot of meat for much less. When I was done I even had some L’hŏr left. The meat, the proprietor said, would be delivered sometime late this afternoon to the address I had given him.

Clothing stores: for males, for females, for children; shoe stores, toy stores, music stores, book stores, anything you needed, anything you wanted. The trouble was that, other than the meat stores, we didn’t really want anything. We have our fur, so we don’t need any clothing; we walk on our toes, so shoes don’t really matter to us. Kykherhenha and I are both twenty-five, what you would call ‘mature adults’ (that’s what Tereskàdianologists call Tereskàdians who have three cubs), so we are way past the toy stage. Music stores and book stores are one of the few places that looked interesting so we went into both of them. In the music store I had to turn down my hearing even further, because something was pounding and wailing and trying to drive me insane.

The book store had everything from the newest fiction to re-issues of books by long-dead poets. I saw Jackson Markham Tyler’s Visions of the Alien, but I didn’t buy it because I had read it already. I noticed there was a special section about the Tereskàdians, and it was divided into different categories, such as general works, anatomy and physiology, geographical influence, fictional works, poetry by and about. I picked up a book of poetry, titled Winter on ‘Hănharys,’ by a female Tereskàdian named Šheôrha, who, according to her biography, has been writing poetry for about seven years, and this is her first published work.

So when are you going to write a poem? Kykherhenha asked.

I didn’t even know that one of us wrote poetry, I said.

So it can be done, she said.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I did mention the possibility of writing a poem, but that has, so far, not materialized, and I doubt it ever will. I was meant to write, but not poetry.

There are information kiosks where Alharhanian females answer questions, and point you in the right direction if you are looking for a particular store. A multitude of venues have been set up where you can eat everything from soups to meats to cakes, and drink everything from water to G’hălhar wine. When you are a Tereskàdian you eat meat, and drink the milk provided by your whistling dragon.

Jhalhemha stirred in my chamber, and moments later,, began to nurse. I wondered if she had read my mind, but I knew that was impossible.

The washrooms (and there are dozens of them) are so clean you could eat off the floor. (All right, I exaggerate, but you do get the general idea.) The reason they are extremely clean is because they have these robots performing the menial task of keeping these rooms clean every hour on the hour. It is nice to see that a place like the Center caters not only to Alharhanians, but also to Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons. When someone like me has to use the facility we can’t exactly tell our whistling dragons to wait outside. So, according to the law, our whistling dragons can accompany us at all times, and that includes going into the room where we relieve ourselves.

Males and females use the same rooms, which is different from what Jackson told me. Aboard the ship in which he was traveling males and females used separate facilities where they attended to their bodily functions. When I went into one of the washrooms at the shopping center there were adult members of both sexes, as well as children milling about, doing what they came in here to do, talking, talking, talking. Since the weather was rather chilly, they were dressed, but if it had been summer the majority of them would have been in the nude.

I went over to one of the urinals, and emptied my bladder. I noticed a boy who looked to be about nine or ten years old staring at my organ. It didn’t really upset me, because Tereskàdians are used to being stared at, especially males who bring their genitals out of their ternharhaclhoch, the special chamber that houses the penis and the scrotum. When I was done this cloth emerged, covered with a light coating of some soap or other cleanser, but I stepped back before it could touch my organ. Instead, I let Kykherhenha clean my penis, which drew not only the boy’s wide-eyed stare, but also the other Alharhanians’. One of them remarked that male Alharhanians should not be allowed to do something like that, but there was nothing they could do about it. There was a law in the books that covered this particular event, and I wasn’t about to let a few Alharhanians tell me what Kykherhenha could or could not do.

When I was done I left my penis out because Kykherhenha’s tongue gave me an erection that wasn’t going to go down for a while. The Alharhanians stared at it and kept staring at it until I left the washroom and stepped out into the mall. Of course that brought more stares, and a few lewd comments, but I ignored them by shutting off my hearing.

Kykherhenha and I stayed the entire day at the Center, trying to see as much as we could, but we knew that was impossible. You cannot go to every shop, you cannot experience everything in one day. You pick out the places that interest you, and you spend your time briefly, and then you leave. When we walked out the doors we still had a few L’hŏr left. I bought the poetry book by Šheôrha, for no particular reason, other than the mood hit me to read some poetry. Seventy-seven poems, mostly short ones, spanning ninety-two pages.

At the end of last month Thyros Mharen gave me a call from the university, telling me that a position for a full-time Tereskàdianologist was available on the first of Benrhachyzh, when the children will be going back to school. I told him I had to think about it. He gave me until the eighteenth of this month, and I said I would get back to him.

On the third of this month I received a call from the Treskebhar Daily News. It was the columnist editor, asking me if I would like to write a column for the paper. Life from a Tereskàdian’s point of view. I wasn’t sure about that, so I told her I’d think about it. If you want to, she continued, you can make it a question and answer column. Readers will send in questions about Tereskàdians, and you write the replies. I told her I would have to get back to her, and she said I would have to let her know by the eighteenth.

So here I am, two job offers, one a teaching job, the other a writing job. And I have to have an answer for both of them by the eighteenth. That gives me six days to think about it.

T’horhachyzh 12.98/Day 266

Yesterday I went to the library and picked up a copy of Jackson Markham Tyler’s Visions of the Alien, which I have read before, but occasionally look at now and then, because it is an interesting book. It is a rather subjective work, with Jackson placing himself squarely in the middle of the book, and doing it without any apologies. It has become a much more popular book than Thyros Mharen’s The Tereskàdians, which, unfortunately, was required reading at the University of Treskebhar.

The Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons were first mentioned in a book called The Ap’hăkharys, by Krysa Rhona. Krysa was born in 4568 in the city of Mho’ălys, in the country of Bjharnha. When she was twelve years old she fell into a well. She woke up from a coma three days later, and discovered she had the ability to see into the future. And what I mean by ‘the future’ went far beyond the simplistic times of Krysa Rhona’s era. She predicted years of war, and years of peace, years of prosperity, and years of hardships. She predicted the formation of the fifty-five countries on Alharhan; she predicted the development of Treskebhar as the major city on the planet. She saw the development of machines, and technology, and space travel.

‘I have visions of a far-off land
That lies beyond the realm of man;
I have visions of the alien
Too strange to comprehend:
I see before me fur and tail and poisonous claws...’

When Krysa first wrote those words her early interpreters thought she meant a land on the other side of the ocean. Early explorers tried to find these ‘aliens too strange to comprehend’, but were met with failure, because Krysa was not talking about another land on Alharhan, but the planet Tereskàdhar. And when she made her prediction the only planet of any importance, as far as the early Alharhanians were concerned, was Alharhan. The discovery of the other six planets would come along after Krysa Rhona’s death.

Let’s jump ahead a few hundred years, to 4998, when the first Alharhanians landed on Tereskàdhar. Even though it was readily apparent that this planet was nothing at all like Alharhan, with its two land masses, and temperatures that meant a merely warm summer, and an extremely cold winter, the explorers decided to build a settlement near what is now the city of Monaran, on the continent of Mhăčăren. In the year 5001 the Tereskàdian year began as Year 1, which meant that despite the short summers, and the harsh, cruel winters, the settlers were determined to stay on Tereskàdhar.

The discovery of the Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons is generally credited to a middle-aged Alharhanian named Chen Arhan Dha’hăbrys. He, and his son, Felkhor, set out to explore as much of Mhăčăren as they could, and discovered the aliens in what is now known as the East Forest. In their book, A Most Unusual Discovery, father and son made the most unusual observations regarding the two alien species. The first point they made was that the whistling dragons were the Tereskàdians’ pets, but that theory was quickly squashed when it was found that the separation of the two beings meant the death of both. Another point was the observation of Tereskàdians drinking from their whistling dragons. It was assumed that the Tereskàdians were the whistling dragons’ offspring. That theory fell by the wayside when they saw adult Tereskàdians and cubs together, and those cubs that were younger than five, nursing on their parents’ teats.

You can still find that book in the library, and it is amusing in its many inaccuracies. But you can’t really blame Dha’hăbrys. The Tereskàdians and the whistling dragons were a new discovery, and new discoveries bring dozens of theories, most of them so outrageous that you just have to wonder who could think of something like that.

As more and more Alharhanian traveled to Tereskàdhar the Tereskàdians began to feel the pressure of trying to cope with a much more intelligent, technologically advanced species. They fled to the eastern shores of Mhăčăren, and finally to the island of ‘Hănharys. They were followed by missionaries who were at first determined to stay on the island, teaching the aliens, trying to convert them to their way of thinking. They built villages throughout ‘Hănharys, most of them on the wide, spine-like hill that runs down the center of the island. They built each house with only one room, so that it was basically just a shack, but still big enough to accommodate several Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons.

And then one day they were gone. As if called by some command that had to be obeyed, they abandoned the villages, and returned to Alharhan.

The Alharhanians who lived on Mhăčăren decided that further exploration was needed, so they traveled to ‘Hănharys. Somewhere in the distant past someone decided that a being that has fur, and a tail, and didn’t wear clothes, and hunted its food like an animal, and mated like an animal, was indeed an animal, and so we were treated like animals. We were hunted, and raped, and killed; we were sold at auctions, and treated worse than the owners’ pets. When I was four I was scheduled to be sold at an auction, but the owner said I couldn’t be sold because I was still drinking the milk of my parents. If I had been a year older I don’t know who would have bought me, and what would have happened to me. I did get sold at an auction when I was twelve, and my buyer was the mayor of Monaran who, unfortunately, was murdered by her sister-in-law, a dedicated anti-Tereskàdian.

Considering that I am now twenty-five years old, it isn’t hard to see that it wasn’t that long ago when Tereskàdians were still treated like animals. Today we have the Tereskàdian Act, which was passed five years ago. This document states that the Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons are a Universally Protected Alien Species. Anything done to harm the Tereskàdians, whether it is verbal, or physical, means expulsion to the planet Jhanhekhar, the fifth planet, a desolate place reserved for hardened criminals, and those that still think Tereskàdians are nothing more than animals.

I was going to write about the relationship between a Tereskàdian and his whistling dragon, but I seemed to have been taken off the track by some history concerning my species, and our connection with the Alharhanians.

When I was conceived twenty-five years ago, my mother’s whistling dragon, Khedharhij, and my father’s whistling dragon, Vythalham, mated at exactly the same time as my parents. Because the births have to coincide the gestation period of both species is the same, always twenty days. Both Kykherhenha and I were born at the exact same moment, and we were able to communicate via telepathy even at a very young age. When I speak of telepathy it is basically like ‘hearing’ a voice inside your head that you know is not yours. You learn that this ‘voice’ belongs to another being who is part of you, yet separate, and you learn that this being will be with you for the rest of your life. But in the chamber, all you are interest in for the moment is the safety of the chamber, and the milk in the single teat.

When you poke your head out of the chamber (either your mother’s or your father’s) the first thing you usually notice is this other animal staring at you, and you know that this was the animal with which you have been communicating while in the chambers. You learn that she, like you, spends time in her parents’ chambers, and you gradually realize that while you are bound to the planet by gravity she, on the other paw, will be able to do something you will never be able to do. She has a pair of rudimentary wings, which will grow and strengthen as she matures.

A Tereskàdian names his whistling dragon. Many Alharhanians have asked me why I named her Kykherhenha, and I don’t really have a reason, other than I just like the name. It just seemed to come into my mind. Kykherhenha likes her name, and that’s what matters.

Between one and two years of age both the Tereskàdians and the whistling dragons are in and out of the chambers. Tereskàdians have the chest teats as well as the chamber teat from which a cub can get milk, and the whistling dragons obtain their milk from the chamber teat and the teats near the genital region of their parents. I find it interesting that, according to Tereskàdianologists, Tereskàdians and whistling dragons are the only two species in which both parents not only do, but must, nurse their cubs.

Between the ages of two and five, the cub and the whistling dragon are out of their respective chambers, and that experience can prove very traumatic, something to which this Tereskàdian can testify. The chest teats are still available, of course, but the chamber teat is now out of reach. Thyros Mharen, in this book The Tereskàdians, states that Tereskàdians are a slow-growth species, which is one reason why they nurse for such a long time.

At the age of five Tereskàdians switch to the milk of their whistling dragons. This will be the only liquid they can drink (other than water which is available a) if the parents are somehow unable to nurse the young, either through 1) separation, or 2) death, and b) the whistling dragon does not yet have milk (a whistling dragon will not have milk prior to age five)). In the case of separation from the parents, a cub can drink water, but this is done rather reluctantly, something to which I can testify because it had happened to me when I was four years old.

The odd thing is that even though you have been sucking on teats for all your life, there is something awkward about sucking on the teats of a species with whom you can communicate telepathically. But it isn’t long before you are an expert at it, and the milk a whistling dragon gives you will be your liquid for the rest of your life. And it is exclusively yours; no one else can drink it, no Alharhanian, no whistling dragon, except a cub (not even Kykherhenha could drink her own milk), and no Tereskàdian, except the one who is symbiotically linked with his or her whistling dragon. As I have shown in a previous chapter, the consequences of anyone but me, or Kykherhenha's cub (once he emerges from the chambers), sucking on her teats, are not pretty... and they don’t smell good either.

Let’s talk a bit about telepathy. The definition of telepathy is ‘communication by means other than through the normal senses’. The term used by Tereskàdianologists regarding Tereskàdian/whistling dragon telepathy is ‘singular telepathy’. That means I can communicate only with Kykherhenha. Kykherhenha, on the other paw, can communicate with other whistling dragons, which mean she is endowed with what is known as ‘multiple species-specific telepathy’. Another term to consider is ‘transferred telepathy’. This means communicating with another Tereskàdian through our whistling dragons. So, if I wanted to communicate with my best friend Rheôvhan, who lives in the western part of the city, I would tell the message to Kykherhenha, and she would relay the message to Rheôvhan’s whistling dragon, Dharhonha, who would pass if on to Rheôvhan. It may sound like a complicated process, but it really isn’t.

I have exhausted myself, so I will stop for now. Besides, Fhenha is at my side, and she wants to know what I am doing. And in his room T’heril is playing music a little too loud, at least until his father tells him to turn it down. Arhen is running around naked, and he wants a drink of water. Khe’ăr tells him if he is thirsty, then he can get a drink himself.

Kykherhenha has lain down on the floor of the living room, and she tells me that she is pretty full. And since I am the only one who can relieve her of her burden...

T’hor. 13.98/Day 267

Before I continue my discussion on Tereskàdian/whistling dragon relationship I have to mention a serious matter involving Khe’ăr’s son, T’heril. It seems that three days ago, on the 14th, T’heril accompanied about half a dozen Alharhanian youths on Lhažel Street. They came upon a family of Tereskàdians and whistling dragons, and harsh words were exchanged that were, shall we say, not appropriate for most beings to hear. One of the youths picked up a stone, and threw it at the Tereskàdians, hitting one of the cubs on the side of the head. The other Alharhanians joined in, throwing stones, some as large as my paw. Another cub was hit, and this one went down, and stayed down, bleeding from a wound where the rock had struck him in the forehead. Both the mother and father of these cubs came at the youths, who knew that if they were caught, their punishment would be instant death.

Law officers nearby witnessed the scene, and rounded up all the Alharhanians involved, including T’heril. Khe’ăr received a call on the videophone a short time later, and it wasn’t hard to figure out by the raised volume of his voice that T’heril was in major trouble. Khe’ăr asked me to accompany him to the Detention Building where they hold Alharhanian who have been arrested on various charges.

When we saw T’heril he insisted that he had nothing to do with hurting the Tereskàdians, that he did not pick up a rock, that he had no intention of hurting anyone. Khe’ăr looked at me, and I told him that T’heril was telling the truth. Even if he was, though, he was still in trouble, merely by associating with the other Alharhanians. And trouble in this case was spelled J-H-A-N-H-E-K-H-A-R. As I have already mentioned, Jhanhekhar is the fifth planet in the Orovhian system, a planet you don’t mind reading about, as long as don’t have to be there. But since this assault involved Tereskàdians, and the Tereskàdian Act was passed in 5693, anyone who harms a Tereskàdian or causes a Tereskàdian to be harmed will be sentenced to spend considerable time on Jhanhekhar.

They released T’heril into Khe’ăr’s custody; he has a date with a trio of judges and the citizens of Treskebhar on the 4th of Benrhachyzh, a date Khe’ăr wasn’t too fond of because that will be the day school resumes. But there was nothing that can be done about that now. Once the judges set a date it is all but engraved deeply in stone, and such a mundane thing as school resumption isn’t going to change their minds.

Lheana was devastated, of course, and I don’t blame her. Her son had been associating with young criminals. When he tried to explain that he didn’t hurt anyone, she yelled at him that just by being there he was as much an accomplice as any of them. Did you even try to stop them? Did you tell them that Tereskàdians and their whistling dragons are protected by the Tereskàdian Act? Did you even try to help the cubs who were hurt? Lheana’s questions were hammered at him, but he had no answers.

Jhorhea and Rheža refused to even look at him, and he spent the rest of the day in his room. Not even his twin sister wanted anything to do with him, muttering that she wished she didn’t have a brother. No one was supposed to have heard that, but I did, of course.

I don’t really have a good way of moving smoothly from the news about T’heril to the discussion of Tereskàdians and whistling dragons, and how they relate to each other, but I’ll jump into the water, and go from there.

As I have mentioned in one of the earlier chapters the actual name of the whistling dragon is alharhanyshamha- nhatereskàdyshatjhakharesthal, which has been shorted to alharkàdharesthal, a name quite a few Alharhanians still use. Many Alharhanians, however, are opting for the descriptive name, whistling dragon, which was coined by Jackson Markham Tyler. Sen Tyler states that on the planet Earth , where his ancestors originated, there were legends of huge beasts that breathed fire, called dragons, and since the animals accompanying the Tereskàdians were knows for the melodic whistling sounds, or shall we say, music the term whistling dragon seemed rather appropriate. I tend to call them whistling dragons as well, because I cannot see why why the name of our life companion should begin with ‘alhar’, an obvious reference to the planet Alharhan, when we did not even originate on that planet.

The split brain that a Tereskàdian possesses was discovered by a scientist named Khedrel ‘Hŏmharyn who lived from 5533 to 5628. In 5589 he published a slender volume called Anatomy of the Split Brain. When I read this I realized that back in the early days Alharhanians had no qualms about dissecting Tereskàdians and studying their insides. A hundred years later ‘Hŏmharyn would not have been able to do this.

One part of a Tereskàdian’s brain is able to focus on our surroundings, and any conversation we have with other Tereskàdians, while the other part is used exclusively to communicate telepathically with our with our whistling dragons. The two functions are kept separate in such a manner that I could, for example, hold a conversation about an upcoming local election with Khe’ăr while reminiscing about life in the village on ‘Hănharys with Kykherhenha. Now, for non-Tereskàdians this may seem like an impossible task, but being a Tereskàdian, I don’t find this difficult at all.

Nykha tells me that she is able to watch the wallscreen, talk to a number of friends on the videophone, and listen to her mother all at the same time. And I don’t even have a split brain, she says. It’s a matter of priorities. If one of my friends says something really important, I listen to her; if my mother yells at me about something I listen to her, and if there is some news on the wallscreen I want to hear, I listen to that. All at the same time? Of course not, she replies. Nobody can do that. I told her that while we were talking, Kykherhenha and I were holding a conversation about the time a p’hăryl bit me when I was four years old because I wasn’t an expert at fishing yet. This time it was she who asked me if my conversation with her, and my conversation with Kykherhenha were all done at the same time. At the same time, I said.

Next time, I will answer the question: Do Tereskàdians and whistling dragon ever become sexually involved, and other questions relating to the sexuality of Tereskàdians and whistling dragons.

Oh, one more thing before I end this chapter: I have decided to accept Thyros Mharen’s offer at the university... and the offer from the Treskebhar Daily News. The column I will be writing will be a weekly column, so there should be no problem coming up with subjects for a column I have decided to call ‘Life Through My Eyes.’ As for the university, I will be hired as an Assistant Tereskàdianology Instructor, to use the proper term. That means I don’t have to be in every day, just when one of the regular professors is ill, or otherwise indisposed. The best of both worlds, I would say.

T’hor. 17.98/Day 271